Surah Repentance [At-Taubah] in English

This is a declaration of immunity from God and His Messenger to the polytheists, with whom you had made agreements.

So go about in the land for four months, but know that you cannot frustrate the plan of God and that God will disgrace those who deny the truth.

This is a proclamation from God and His Messenger to the people on the day of the Pilgrimage, that God is free of all obligation to the polytheists, and so is His Messenger. If you repent, it will be better for you, but if you turn away, then know that you cannot frustrate the plan of God. Proclaim a grievous punishment to those who are bent on denying the truth.

As for those who have honoured the treaty you made with them and who have not supported anyone against you: fulfill your agreement with them to the end of their term. God loves those who are righteous.

When the forbidden months have passed, kill the polytheists [who are at war with you] wherever you find them. Take them captive, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and take to prayer regularly and pay the alms, then let them go their way. God is forgiving and merciful.

If any one of the polytheists seeks asylum with you, grant him asylum so that he may hear the word of God; then convey him to a place of safety. That is because they are a people who have no knowledge.

How can there be a treaty with the polytheists on the part of God and His Messenger, except for those with whom you entered into a treaty at the Sacred Mosque? As long as they act straight with you, act straight with them. God loves those who are righteous.

How [can there be a treaty] for, if they get the upper hand over you, they will respect neither kinship nor covenant. They [try to] please you with their tongues but their hearts reject you; most of them are perfidious.

They have sold God's revelations for a paltry price, and barred others from His path. How evil is what they have been doing!

Where believers are concerned, they respect no tie of kinship or treaty. They are people who overstep the limits.

If they repent and keep up their prayers and pay the alms, then they are your brethren in faith. We make Our messages clear for people who are willing to learn.

But if they break faith after pledging it and revile your religion, then fight these leaders of unbelief, so that they may desist, for they have no regard for their pledged word.

Will you not fight against those who have broken their oaths and conspired to banish the Messenger? They were the first to attack you. Do you fear them? Surely God is more deserving of your fear, if you are true believers.

Fight them: God will punish them at your hands, and will disgrace them. He will help you to overcome them and heal the hearts of the faithful;

He will remove the rage from their hearts. God will turn in His mercy to whom He wills. God is all knowing and wise.

Do you [O believers] think that you will be spared without God identifying which of you have struggled and did not take anyone for friends and protectors except God, His Messenger, and the believers? God is fully aware of all your actions.

It is not right that the polytheists should frequent God's places of worship while they are self-confessed unbelievers. It is they whose works shall come to nothing and they shall abide in Hell.

Only he should tend God's houses of worship who believes in God and the Last Day, and is constant in prayer, and spends in charity, and stands in awe of none but God: such people may hope to be among the rightly guided.

Do you regard giving water to pilgrims and tending the Sacred Mosque as being equal to the deeds of those who believe in God and the Last Day and who strive in God's path? They are not equal in the sight of God. God does not guide such unjust people.

Those who have believed and have migrated, and have striven for God's sake with their possessions and persons, stand much higher in God's esteem. It is they who will triumph;

their Lord gives them the good news of His mercy and His pleasure and gardens of eternal bliss.

There they will dwell for ever. Truly there is an immense reward with God.

Believers, do not take your fathers and your brothers for allies if they choose denial of truth in preference to faith. Those among you who ally themselves with them are wrongdoers.

Say, \"If your fathers and your sons and your brothers and your spouses and your tribe, and the worldly goods which you have acquired, and the commerce which you fear will decline, and the homes you love are dearer to you than God and His Messenger and the struggle for His cause, then wait until God fulfills His decree. God does not guide the disobedient people.\"

Indeed, God has helped you on many occasions. On the day of Hunayn, when you took pride in your great numbers, they proved of no avail to you -- for the earth, despite all its vastness, became [too] narrow for you and you turned back, in retreat.

God caused His tranquillity to descend upon His Messenger and the faithful: and sent down forces which you did not see: He punished those who denied the truth, for such is the recompense of all who deny the truth,

then after that, God will turn in His mercy to whom He wills: God is forgiving and merciful.

Believers, know that the polytheists are impure, so they should not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year onwards. If you should fear destitution, God will enrich you out of His bounty, if He so wishes. God is aware and wise.

Fight those from among the People of the Book who believe neither in God, nor in the Last Day, nor hold as unlawful what God and His Messenger have declared to be unlawful, nor follow the true religion, until they pay the tax willingly and agree to submit.

The Jews say, \"Ezra is the son of God,\" and the Christians say, \"The Messiah is the son of God.\" These are but their baseless utterances. They imitate the assertions made in earlier times by those who deny the truth. May God destroy them! How far astray they have been led!

They have taken their learned men and their monks for their lords besides God. So have they taken the Messiah, son of Mary, although they were commanded to worship only the One God. There is no deity but He. He is far above whatever they set up as His partners!

They want to extinguish God's light with their mouths, but God seeks only to perfect His light, no matter how those who deny the truth may abhor it.

It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of Truth, so that He may make it prevail [ideologically] over every other religion, however much the polytheists may hate this.

Believers, many religious scholars and monks wrongfully appropriate people's possessions and turn people away from God's path! Tell those who hoard gold and silver instead of giving in God's cause that they will have a painful punishment:

on the Day their treasure is heated up in the fire of hell, their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded with it, and they will be told, \"This is what you hoarded up for yourselves. Taste then what you were hoarding.\"

On the Day God created heaven and earth, He decreed that the number of months should be twelve in number. Out of these, four are sacred. That is the true religion. Do not wrong your souls in these months. Fight the polytheists all together, as they fight you all together, and know that God is with the righteous.

The postponing of [sacred months] is but one more instance of [their] refusal to acknowledge the truth -- by which those who are bent on denying the truth are led astray. They declare this to be permissible in one year and forbidden in another year, so that they may adjust the months which God has sanctified, thus making lawful what God has forbidden. Their evil deed seems fair to them: God does not guide those who deny the truth.

Believers, what is the matter with you that when you are asked to go forth in the cause of God, you cling slothfully to the land? Do you prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, compared to that of the Hereafter.

If you do not go forth, He will punish you sternly and replace you by other people. You will not harm Him in the least. God has power over all things.

If you do not support him [Muhammad], know that God did support him when those who denied the truth expelled him when the two of them were in the cave, he [Muhammad] told his companion, \"Do not worry; for God is with us.\" So God sent His tranquillity down on him and aided him with forces invisible to you and placed the word of those who disbelieved lowest, while God's word remained supreme. God is powerful and wise.

Go forth, whether lightly or heavily equipped, and strive and struggle, with your goods and your persons, for the cause of God. That is better for you, if you only knew.

Had the gain been immediate and the journey shorter, they would have followed you: but the distance seemed too great for them. Yet they will swear by God, \"Had we been able, we would have gone out with you.\" They bring ruin upon themselves. God knows that they are surely lying.

May God pardon you! Why did you permit them to do so before it had become clear to you which ones were truthful, so that you might recognize the liars?

Those who believe in God and the Last Day will never ask you to exempt them from striving with their wealth and their lives, God best knows the righteous,

only those seek exemption who do not truly believe in God and the Last Day, and whose hearts have become a prey to doubt. Because they doubt, they waver.

If they had wished to go forth, they would surely have made some preparation for it, but God disliked their setting out [and being raised high in God's eyes] and held them back. They were told to stay behind with those who stay behind.

Had they gone forth with you, they would only have proved a source of evil for you, and would have run back and forth among you, seeking to sow discord among you: and among you there were some who would have willingly listened to them. God knows the evil-doers.

They have already tried to sow dissension, and hatched plots against you, until the truth became manifest and God's will prevailed, much to their disgust.

Some of them say, \"Give us leave to stay behind and do not put us to trial.\" Surely, they have already fallen into trial. Surely, Hell shall engulf those who deny the truth.

If good befalls you, it grieves them, but if a misfortune befalls you, they say, \"We took our precautions beforehand!\" They turn away rejoicing.

Say, \"Nothing can befall us, except what God has ordained for us. He is our Supreme Lord. In God let the faithful put their trust.\"

Say, \"Are you waiting for anything to befall us except one of the two best things [Victory in this world or Paradise in the next]? But we expect that God will send His punishment to you either directly from Himself, or by our hands. So wait, if you will; we too, are waiting with you.\"

Say, \"Whether you give willingly or unwillingly, your offerings shall not be accepted by God, for you are indeed a disobedient people.\"

The only reason their contributions are not accepted is that they have denied God and His Messenger, they come to the prayer half heartedly, and they offer contributions unwillingly.

Do not let their wealth and children impress you. For God seeks to punish them through these things in the life of this world, so that their souls shall depart while they are still denying the truth.

They swear by God that they are believers like you; but they are not. They are afraid [to appear in their true colours]:

if they could find a place of refuge, or a cave or any hiding-place, they would run there with frantic haste.

Among them there are some who find fault with you concerning the distribution of alms. If a share is given to them, they are pleased, but if they receive nothing, they grow resentful.

If only they had been content with what God and His Messenger had given them and had said, \"God is sufficient for us. God will give us out of His bounty, and so will His Messenger. To God alone do we turn with hope!\"

Alms are only for: the poor and the destitute, for those who collect zakat, for conciliating people's hearts, for freeing slaves, for those in debt, for spending for God's cause, and for travellers in need. It is a legal obligation enjoined by God. God is all-knowing and wise.

Among them are those who vex the Prophet by saying, \"He listens to everyone.\" Say, \"His listening to everyone is good for you; he believes in God and puts his trust in the faithful, and is a mercy to those of you who believe. Those who annoy God's Messenger shall have a painful punishment.\"

They swear by God in order to please you [believers]: but it would be more fitting for them to please God and His Messenger, if they are believers.

Do they not know that whoever opposes God and His Messenger shall abide forever in the fire of Hell? That is the supreme humiliation.

The hypocrites are afraid lest a chapter [of the Quran] be sent down about them, telling them what is in their hearts -- say, \"Go on mocking. God will surely bring to light what you are dreading.\"

If you ask them, they will say, \"We were only joking and playing with words.\" Say, \"Would you make a mockery of God and of His Revelations and of His Messenger?

Make no excuses; you rejected the faith after you accepted it.\" If We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you, for they are guilty.

The hypocrites, both men and women, are all alike. They enjoin what is evil, forbid what is right and they are niggardly when it comes to spending for the cause of God. They have forgotten God, so He has forgotten them. The hypocrites are the disobedient ones.

God has promised the hypocrites, both men and women, and those who deny the truth, the Fire of Hell. They shall abide in it forever. That is a sufficient recompense for them. God has rejected them. They shall have everlasting punishment.

Like those before you who were stronger than you, possessed more wealth and children; they enjoyed their share in this life as you have enjoyed yours; like them, you have indulged in idle talk. It is they whose works shall come to nothing in this world and in the life to come -- and it is they who shall be the losers.

Have they never heard the stories about their predecessors, the peoples of Noah, 'Ad, Thamud, Abraham, Midian, and of the ruined cities? Their messengers brought them clear evidence of the truth. It was not God who wronged them; they wronged themselves.

The believers, both men and women, are friends to each other; they enjoin what is good and forbid evil, they attend to their prayers and pay the alms and obey God and His Messenger. On these God will have mercy, for God is almighty and wise.

God has promised the believers, both men and women, Gardens through which rivers flow, wherein they will abide, and fine dwelling places in Gardens of eternity. But the good pleasure of God is greater still. That is the supreme achievement.

O Prophet, strive against those who deny the truth and the hypocrites, and be firm against them. Their abode shall be Hell: an evil destination.

They swear by God that they did not, yet they uttered the words of denial of truth after they had accepted Islam. They meditated a plot which they were unable to carry out, and being spiteful was their only response to God, who had enriched them out of His bounty, and to His Messenger. If they repent, it will indeed be better for them. If they turn away, God will punish them with grievous suffering in this world and the Hereafter, and there will be no one on earth to protect or help them.

There are some among them who pledged themselves to God, saying, \"If God gives us something out of His bounty, we shall certainly give alms and be righteous,\"

but when He bestowed His favours on them they grew niggardly, and turned away in aversion.

So He caused hypocrisy to settle in their hearts until the Day of their meeting with Him, because they broke their word to God, and because they lied.

Do they not know that God knows what they conceal and what they talk about in secret? That God knows all that is hidden?

As for those who ridicule such believers as give alms freely for the sake of God and taunt those who find nothing to give save that which they earn through their toil, God will cause their ridicule to rebound on them: they shall have a painful punishment.

It is the same whether or not you ask forgiveness for them. Even if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, God will not forgive them, for they have denied God and His Messenger. God does not guide the evil-doers.

Those who stayed at home were glad that they were left behind by God's Messenger. They hated the thought of striving for God's cause with their possessions and their persons. They said, \"Do not go forth in this heat.\" Say, \"The Fire of Hell is far hotter.\" If only they could understand.

Let them laugh a little and weep much in return for their misdeeds.

So [Prophet], if God brings you back to a group of them, and should they ask your leave to go forth with you, say, \"You shall never go forth with me and shall never fight an enemy with me. You chose to sit at home the first time, so sit now with those who remain behind.\"

And never [O Muhammad] pray for one of them who dies, nor stand by his grave. For they denied God and His Messenger, and died rebellious.

Do not let their wealth and their children dazzle you. God only wants to punish them through these things in this world, and let their souls depart while they deny the truth.

When a chapter is revealed enjoining, \"Believe in God and strive for the cause of God along with His Messenger,\" the wealthy among them ask you to exempt them saying, \"Let us stay with those who are to stay behind.\"

They preferred to be with [the women], who remained behind [at home]: their hearts are sealed and so they do not understand.

But the Messenger and those who shared his faith strove hard with their possessions and their lives. It is they who shall have all kinds of good, and it is they who shall surely prosper.

God has prepared for them Gardens through which rivers flow, in which they shall abide forever. That is the supreme triumph.

Some of the desert Arabs, too, came to make excuses, asking to be granted exemption. Those who lied to God and His Messenger stayed behind at home. Those who denied the truth among them will be afflicted with a painful chastisement,

but no blame shall attach to the weak, the sick, and those who have no means to spend, provided they are sincere to God and His Messenger. There is no reason to reproach those who do good deeds; God is most forgiving and merciful.

Nor [does any blame] attach to those who came to you to be provided with mounts, and when you said, \"I can find no mounts for you,\" they went back, and tears welled up in their eyes with sadness, since they could not find any way to contribute.

The blameworthy are those who are men of wealth and yet ask for exemption. They are content to be with those [women] who stay behind. God has sealed their hearts: they do not understand.

They will make excuses to you when you return to them. Say, \"Do not make excuses, we will not believe you. God has already informed us about you. God will see your actions, as will His Messenger. Then you will be returned to the One who knows the seen and the unseen and He will tell you all that you used to do.\"

When you return, they will swear to you by God so that you may leave them alone, so leave them alone. They are unclean, and Hell will be their home as a reward for their actions --

they will swear to you, so that you may be pleased with them. But [even] if you are pleased with them, God is not pleased with rebellious people.

The desert Arabs are more stubborn in their denial of truth and hypocrisy, and are the least likely to be aware of the limits which God has revealed to His Messenger. God is all knowing and wise.

Some desert Arabs regard what they give for the cause of God as a fine and wait for some misfortune to befall you. May ill-fortune befall them! God hears all and knows all.

There are also those among them who believe in God and the Last Day and regard what they spend for the cause of God as a means of bringing them nearer to God and of deserving the prayers of the Messenger. This shall certainly be for them a means of drawing near to God. God will admit them into His mercy; God is indeed most forgiving and merciful.

As for those who led the way, the first of the emigrants and the supporters, as well as those who nobly followed them, God is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him; He has prepared for them Gardens through which rivers flow, where they shall dwell forever. That is the supreme achievement.

Some of the desert Arabs around you are hypocrites as are some of the people of Madinah -- they are obdurate in their hypocrisy. You do not know them, but We know them. We shall cause them to suffer doubly and then they will be subjected to a great punishment.

There are others who have confessed their wrongdoing, who have done some good deeds and some bad ones. It is likely that God will turn to them in mercy. Surely, God is most forgiving, merciful.

Take alms out of their wealth to cleanse them and purify them, and pray for them; your prayer will be a comfort to them. God is all hearing, all knowing.

Do they not know that God accepts the repentance of His servants and receives their alms, and that God is the Forgiving, the Merciful One?

Say, \"Do as you will. God will watch your conduct and so will His Messenger and the believers. Soon you will be brought back to Him who knows what is hidden and what is manifest: then He will show you the truth of all that you have done.\"

[There are yet] others whose cases are deferred until it is God's will to judge them. He will either punish them, or turn in mercy to them; God is all knowing and wise.

Then there are those who built a mosque to cause harm, to spread apostasy and disunity among the believers -- as an outpost for those who from the outset warred on God and His Messenger. They swear, \"Our intentions were nothing but good,\" but God bears witness that they are lying.

Do not set foot in it. Only a house of worship, founded from the very first day upon piety, is worthy of your setting foot therein. In it are men who love to be purified and God loves those who purify themselves.

Who is better, he who founds his building on the fear of God and His good pleasure, or he who builds on the brink of a crumbling precipice, so that his house is ready to fall with him into the Fire of Hell? God does not guide the wrongdoers:

the building which they have built will never cease to be a source of deep disquiet in their hearts, until their hearts are cut to pieces. God is all knowing and wise.

God has bought from the believers their lives and their wealth in return for the Garden. They fight for the cause of God and they kill and are killed. It is a promise binding on Him in the Torah, the Gospel and the Quran, and who is truer to his promise than God? Rejoice then in the bargain you have made. That is the supreme achievement.

[The believers are] those who turn to God in repentance; who worship and praise Him; who go about in the land serving His cause, who bow down, who prostrate themselves, who enjoin good and forbid evil, and who observe the limits set by God. Give good news to the believers!

It is not proper for the Prophet and those who believe to seek forgiveness for polytheists, even though they are close relatives, after it has become clear to them that they have earned the punishment of Hell.

Abraham's asking forgiveness for his father was only because of a promise he had made to him, but when it became clear to him, that he was God's enemy, he disassociated himself from him. Surely, Abraham was most tender-hearted and forbearing.

God would never lead a people astray after He has guided them and until He has made clear to them what they should guard against. God has knowledge of all things;

surely to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth. He gives life and death. You have none besides God to protect or help you.

God turned in mercy to the Prophet, and the emigrants and the helpers who followed him in the hour of hardship. After the hearts of a group of them had almost faltered, He turned towards them, for He was compassionate and merciful towards them.

He has turned with mercy to the three whose case was deferred, when the earth, for all its spaciousness, closed in upon them, and their own souls seemed straitened to them and they realised that there was no refuge from God except in Him. He turned to them so that they might turn to Him. God is the Ever Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Believers, fear God and stand with the truthful.

It was not proper for the people of Madinah and those desert Arabs around them to hold back from following God's Messenger, and to prefer their own lives to his life. This is because whenever they suffer from thirst or weariness or hunger for God's cause, and whenever they take any step which provokes those who deny the truth, or inflicts any loss upon the enemy, it shall be counted as a good deed in the sight of God, God will not deny the righteous their reward,

and whenever they spend anything [for the sake of God], be it little or much, and whenever they traverse the land [in God's cause] -- it is recorded to their credit, and God will grant them the best reward for all that they have been doing.

It is not right that all the believers should go out [in time of war] all together. Why, then, does not a party from every group come to [the Prophet] in order to acquire a deeper knowledge of religion and to warn their people, so that they can guard themselves against evil?

Believers! Fight against those deniers of the truth who are near you. Deal firmly with them. Know that God is with those who fear Him.

Whenever a chapter is sent down, there are some of them who say, \"Which of you has had his faith increased by it?\" But, as for those who believe, it increases their faith and they rejoice,

but as for those with sickness in their hearts, it adds defilement to their defilement and they die in a state of denial of truth.

Do they not see that they are tried every year once or twice? Yet they do not repent, nor would they be admonished.

Whenever a chapter is revealed, they glance at each other, asking, \"Is anyone watching?\" Then they turn away. God has turned their hearts away, because they are people who do not understand.

There has come to you a Messenger of your own. Your suffering distresses him: he is deeply concerned for your welfare and full of kindness and mercy towards the believers.