Surah Ya-Sin (Being Abbreviated Letters)

1. Ya. Sin. Allah knows best their meaning. Ibn Abbas said: “‘Ya-Sin’ means ‘O man’!”

2. I swear by the perfect Quran, that includes wisdom and useful knowledge and that cannot be attained by falsehood neither from before nor from behind.

3. You, O Mohammad, are one of the messengers sent to men with guidance and the religion of truth,

4. those to whom Allah revealed a true religion and a just law, namely the submission to Almighty Allah.

5. This religion which you bring has been revealed by Allah, the All-Powerful the All-Merciful towards His servants, because He has sent them a Messenger calling them to guidance.

6. We have sent you to warn your people, the Arabs, to whom no bearer of warning has been sent before you. Therefore, they are heedless and ignore the knowledge of religions and divine laws.

7. We know in Our eternal knowledge that most of them will not choose faith, nor will they believe their messengers. Their state agrees with what We know of them: they will never believe.

8. We have made these wretched unbelievers like one who has fetters around his neck. His hands are tied to his neck, under his chin, so that his head is forced up, straight and rigid. Thus, those unbelievers who are chained are incapable of doing any good.

9. We have adorned and embellished their misdeeds until they grow fond of them and, therefore, refuse to submit to the word of the messengers. They are like those enclosed between two walls, one before them and one behind them, which block their view; they can thus see nothing around them.

10. It is equal to those confirmed unbelievers whether you admonish them and frighten them with Allah’s retribution and chastisement, or leave them without warning. Allah has sealed their hearts and they will not believe: their souls have become steeped in wickedness and they are ill-disposed to be guided.

11. Your admonishment only benefits those who follow the Quran and fear Him in all their deeds when none of Allah’s creatures can see them. For, they believe that Almighty Allah sees them and watches their actions. Give glad tidings to those who follow the precepts of religion and fear Allah’s punishment; announce to them Allah’s forgiveness and pardon for their sins and His generous reward.

12. Allah will resurrect the dead and resuscitate them from their graves. He records all that they did in their lifetime in order to bring them to account. Moreover, He records the good and bad traces which they left behind them in this world. (Examples of good traces are as follows: the teaching of useful learning, the construction of a hospital to serve the creatures of Allah, the construction of a school to educate the nation’s children. Examples of bad traces are, among others, the following: malice sown in the society, temptations and perversities which are initiated and followed by others.) In a Hadith (prophetic tradition), the Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “Whoever establishes a good code of conduct merits its just reward and the reward of those who apply this code after him, without reducing in any way the reward of either. As for he who introduces an evil code of conduct, he will suffer the consequences of his sin and of those who apply the code after him, without diminishing in any way the punishment of either.” Then the prophet recited this verse: “.. and record the deeds that they have forwarded and also the traces that they have left behind.” (Reported by Ibn abi Hatem). It is also said that “traces” means the traces of their footsteps toward obedience and disobedience. Jaber ibn Abdullah said: “The land surrounding the mosque became vacant and the tribe of Bani Salamah wished to settle down there in order to be near the mosque. News of their intention reached the Prophet (peace be upon him) and he said to them: ‘I have heard that you desire to settle in the proximity of the mosque.’ They answered: ‘Yes, Messenger of Allah. We desire that.’ The Prophet said: ‘O Bani Salamah! Your homes register your traces, your homes inscribe your traces!’ Thereupon, the Bani Salamah did not move homes.” (Reported by Hatem and al-Tirmuthy). All things and creatures contained in this universe, and all that mankind does, are recorded in Allah’s Book, the Mother of all Books.

13. O Mohammad! Give as an example to your people the story of the unbelieving inhabitants of the town to whom the messengers of Allah were sent, for it is similar to their story. (Ibn Abbas said: “The town referred to is Antioch, and the messengers are Allah’s messengers sent to its people to support Jesus and the divine laws he brought from his Lord.” However, for some this version is improbable because they maintain that Allah never destroyed a village for its disbelief after the revelation of the Torah.)

14. When Almighty Allah sent two messengers to them, they treated them as liars and denied their message to them. Allah then reinforced them with a third messenger. The three messengers addressed the people of the village saying that they had been sent by their Lord Who had created them, to communicate to them His message and call them to believe in Him Alone, without associate, and to worship Him and do good deeds worthy of His satisfaction.

15. The people of the town told the messengers that they were only men like them, and were thus no different from the inhabitants of the town. Furthermore, they enjoyed no distinguishing quality for Allah to single them out for His message. They added that the All-Merciful had not revealed to them any message or Book, nor had he charged them with communicating any message to anyone. They were merely liars in what they said.

16. The messengers answered saying that Almighty Allah knew that they were His messengers to the people of the town. If they lied to Allah in what they claimed, He would certainly take revenge on them.

17. The messengers said that their mission was limited to transmitting the message of Allah Almighty to the people of the town. If they obeyed, they would win His satisfaction and His paradise; if, however, they disobeyed and persisted in their disbelief, Allah would punish them severely for that.

18. The people of town said to the messengers that they saw an evil omen in their presence in their town due to the schism and dissension which their call had aroused among the town people. This was because some followed them, and opinion thus became divided. They then threatened them with stoning them to death or inflicting on them painful torture if they did not abstain from spreading their message.

19. The messengers told the people of the town who were contending with them: “Your disbelief and heinous deeds are the cause of your evil omen. We messengers are not the cause of your omens because we have only called you to worship and glorify one Allah. In this lies good and prosperity. Do you then threaten us because we call you to the worship of one Allah? You are certainly a profligate people who have exceeded the limits of straying and oppression.”

20. Then a man came hurrying from the edge of the town to where the people were in grouped around the messengers, arguing with them. He said: “O my people! Follow the messengers of Allah sent to you.

21. “Follow those who demand no payment for communicating their Lord’s message; nor do they seek glory on earth, or invite you to corruption. They have been guided to Allah’s straight path. If you follow them, you will be guided through their guidance.”

22. It would seem that the people of the town accused their fellow citizen, who came hurrying to defend the messengers and advise his people to follow them, of championing the messengers and believing in their message. Thus he said: “Why should I not worship Allah sincerely? For Allah created me and to Him return all creatures on the Day of Resurrection to be recompensed for their deeds.

23. “Do you want me to worship deities other than Almighty Allah which are incapable of harming or benefiting me. If the All-Merciful wished to injure me, these divinities cannot benefit me at all, nor can they intercede in my favour with Him or deliver me from His chastisement.

24. “If I were to adopt those idols as Allahs other than Allah, I would then be in manifest error.”

25. The believing man then said to the honourable messengers: “I believe in your Lord Who has sent you and I will follow you. Therefore bear witness to my belief before your noble Lord. (Some say that the man addressed his people saying: “I believe in your Lord in Whom you have disbelieved.”)

26. It is said that his people fell on the man and killed him because he had none amongst them to defend him. Allah admitted him to paradise and honoured him for his faith and trust in Him. Allah says that He said to him: “Enter paradise as a reward for your faith, good works and charity.” When the man came into paradise and saw how generous Allah had been to him because of his faith and patience, he said: “I wish my people could know the bliss and abundant bounty I live in because of my belief in my Lord and acceptance of the messages brought by His noble messengers.”

27. He wished that his people would know how generous Allah had been to him by admitting him to paradise and rewarding him generously so that they would believe as he had. Perhaps then Allah would forgive and honour them as He had honoured him. He was in fact desirous of guiding his people both during his lifetime and after his death.

28. Allah revenged Himself on the inhabitants when they treated His messengers as liars and killed His ally. It was not necessary for Allah Almighty to send down hosts from heaven to destroy them. The matter was simpler than that.

29. Allah sent them one cry which destroyed them all. None survived.

30. Alas for those who treated the messengers as liars! Woe unto them on the Day of Resurrection when they will experience the chastisement which Allah Almighty has prepared for the unbelieving deniers. They mocked all the messengers sent to them by Allah to call them to worship Allah alone, without associate, and to do good works, and denied and repudiated the truth which they brought.

31. Have those unbelieving deniers not taken warning from what happened to the people whom Allah destroyed for denying the previous messengers? Will they not draw a lesson from what happened to them and understand that they will never return to this life?

32. All past and future nations will be brought before Allah on Judgement Day to account for their deeds. He will then repay them for their deeds in this life, good for good and evil for evil.

33. A proof of the existence of Allah, and His ability to bring the dead back to life, is that the earth is dead and inert until Allah sends down rain to irrigate it; the soil is then agitated and rises with the seeds of the plants which begin to stir beneath the surface as they sprout and grow. Allah then causes these plants to put forth grains for men and cattle to eat.

34. Allah then created in this land which He revived with rain, orchards of date-palms and vines. He caused springs of water to gush forth and flow on all sides ..

35. so that men might eat the fruit of these orchards: they certainly cannot take the credit for making them sprout and grow from the earth. Will they not thank the Creator of these blessings for the gifts He has bestowed on them?

36. Glory be to Allah Who created all these species in pairs, males and females, whether they are plants, human beings or that which men know nothing about.

37. One of the great signs which prove the existence of Allah Almighty and His Omnipotence, is the creation of the night and day, one is dark, the other light and each succeeds the other and they alternate in length and shortness. When He removes the day from the night, darkness descends to envelop the whole universe and creatures find tranquillity and sleep.

38. And the sun runs in its celestial orbit, a fixed course which Allah has assigned to it. Thus is the preordainment of Allah the All-Mighty, the All-Victorious Whose knowledge encompasses all things in existence.

39. Allah Almighty has assigned for the moon, in the course of its rotation around the earth, mansions to stop at each night. Accordingly, its surface changes from a full disk which decreases gradually to become as thin as an old dry branch of palm clusters.

40. It is neither possible nor easy for the sun to catch up with the moon in its course because each moves in its own orbit. Their orbits diverge and can under no circumstance meet. It is therefore out of the question to say that the night overtakes the day or that the day gains on the night for the sun, the moon and other celestial bodies float in space in orbits which they never leave.

41. Among the signs of Allah which indicate His great might and His mercy on His servants is that He made it possible for men to sail ships loaded with goods which they transport from one country to another so that those in the countries which do not produce this kind of merchandise may benefit from them and make a profit through trade.

42. Allah also created for His creatures other means of transport similar to the ships that sail the waters among which are camels, beasts of burden and transport like horses, mules, donkeys, elephants, and others. There are also modern means of transport such as ships, trains and other vehicles.

43. If Allah willed, He would drown the people aboard the ships and then they would find no one to deliver them from the peril they are in, nor will they find anyone to save them from drowning. .

44. However, Allah, through His Mercy and Grace, allows men to navigate the seas, saves them from drowning, and grants them enjoyment in this life for a fixed term.

45. When it is said to those who deny Allah’s message, “Guard against suffering the same fate of destruction as that which befell those among the previous generations who denied the message, and fear Allah’s chastisement which lies in store for you on the Day of Resurrection! Believe in Allah, obey His Messenger and do righteous deeds so that He may forgive you and have mercy on you”, they turn away arrogantly and recklessly persist in their straying and error.

46. Whenever a sign pointing to Allah’s existence, Oneness, and the truthfulness of His messengers was brought to them, they would deny and turn away from it without even troubling themselves with examining it or studying it profoundly.

47. When they are ordered to expend from the riches which Allah has given them in the interest of the poor and needy among the Muslims, they say to those who ordered them to do this: “You order us to give from our riches to those whom Allah would have made wealthy and provided for, had He so wished. By refusing to give them money, we merely approve Allah’s will which requires that those people should be poor. It is obviously erroneous and ignorant of you to ask us to expend from our wealth for their good because we would then be opposing the will of Allah Almighty.” They maintain such flimsy and doubtful arguments to conceal their avarice and justify their refusal to expend from their riches as Allah had commanded them, to help the servants of Allah. Allah is capable of providing for all His creatures. However, He puts them to the test through His orders and reprimands to know who obeys Him and who turns away from His commands.

48. They say to the believers, tauntingly, denying the sounding of the Hour, Resurrection and Retribution: “When will this Resurrection with which you frighten us take place, if you are truthful in what you say?”

49. Allah answers the question of those who deny and mock the messengers. He says that they only wait for a single blow on the trumpet to seize brusquely all the creatures on earth even while they are trading, doing business, or earning their living, disputing and arguing about worldly matters. All creatures will then be thunderstruck.

50. They will then have no chance to entrust their wealth to someone to look after it (“to make bequest”) for they will be given no respite. As for those who are far away from their homes and families, they will not be able to return to them. For, the cry will take the creatures by surprise and each will die there where he stands.

51. Then the trumpet will be sounded for the second time (the trumpet sound to hail the Resurrection) and the dead will come to life and leave their graves hastily, then race to the place of assembly to stand before Almighty Allah.

52. They will ask one another: “Who has raised us from our graves where we slept after our earthly life (for during their life on earth the unbelievers did not think that they would be resurrected after death; hence their astonishment)? The believers would then reply saying: “This resurrection, which you behold, is what the All-Merciful promised His servants; it is the truth that the messengers warned us of.” (It could also be that these words are exchanged among those who ask themselves these questions.)

53. The question of resurrecting them and bringing them back to life required no more than a single cry and one blow on the trumpet after which all the creatures are summoned to stand before Almighty Allah for judgement and recompense.

54. On the Day of Judgement, no soul will lose any of the reward it merits for the good deeds it has done nor will its sins be augmented; each soul will be judged on its deeds in this world.

55. On that day, the dwellers of paradise will be happy and will enjoy its pleasures. They will be too busy pursuing their pleasures in that bliss to think about other cares.

56. They and their spouses will be in a luxuriant shade protected from the scorching heat of the sun. They will be reclining on couches in the comfortable position of one who enjoys a leisurely life.

57. There they will have fruit and all that they desire of food and drink.

58. “Peace upon you” will be said to them by the Most Merciful. (In a noble Hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “While the dwellers of Paradise enjoy their bliss, a light shines on them. They raise their heads and see the Almighty Lord looking down on them from above. He says: “Peace be upon you, dwellers of paradise!” (Thus Allah’s words: “‘Peace!’, such is the greeting of the Compassionate Lord.”) The Prophet resumes saying: “He looks at them and they look at Him until He is hidden from their sight. But His light and blessing remain behind in their abode.”) (Reported by Ibn abi Hatem quoting Jabir bin Abdullah.)

59. The criminals are then ordered to stay apart from the believers, to remain isolated and to enter hell.

60. Did I not enjoin you, O children of Adam, not to obey Satan, who intimates to you to disobey your Lord and oppose His orders? For he is in fact your avowed enemy, just as he was the enemy of your progenitor, Adam. I have endowed you with reason so that you can understand matters and discern between good and evil, beauty and ugliness. I have also provided manifest evidence in your souls and in the horizons to prove to you the existence of your Creator, and His Oneness. I have also sent you prophets and revealed Books to them containing the laws and rules of religion in order that you may be admonished and guided to what is good for you.

61. I have ordered you to worship Me, Alone, and to obey My commands and abstain from what I have forbidden. To obey Me by worshipping Me and to abstain from what I have forbidden by disobeying Satan, this is the straight path which leads to Me. However, you have followed a different course, and have pursued the path of Satan which has led you astray: the consequences were nefarious.

62. And indeed Satan has turned numerous creatures among you from obeying Allah. Were you not endowed with reason to understand that by disobeying the commands of Allah and obeying the whispering of Satan you have lost yourselves?

63. They will be told: “This is the Hell of whose blazing flames the messengers warned in this life. This is the punishment reserved for those who persisted in their disbelief in Allah, in going astray and following Satan’s orders.

64. “Come into the Fire and taste its flames this day because you disbelieved in Allah, treated His messengers as liars and denied the Resurrection, the Judgement and the Fire.”

65. On the Day of Resurrection, the unbelievers and criminals will deny the disbelief, denial and sins which they committed in their life on earth. They will swear by Almighty Allah that they were believers and had not committed what is written on the sheets of their deeds. Allah will then seal their mouths so that they will not speak and He will ask parts of their bodies (hands, feet and eyes) about the immoral deeds and the disobedience which they had perpetrated. Thus those parts of their bodies will bear witness against them.

66. If Allah had willed, He would have punished them for their disbelief. He would have effaced their eyes and rendered them blind, unable to see any trail or to find any path. They would then struggle and push each other in order to cross the path but would fall into the Fire. (Explaining this verse, Ibn Abbas said: “If We had willed, We would have misled them from true guidance. How would they then be guided?”

67. If We had willed, We would have transformed their appearance, and made them uglier and much worse than their present state. We could have changed them into apes, pigs or even inanimate stones so that they would remain permanently in their places, neither progressing nor regressing (or they would remain transfixed moving neither forward nor backward).

68. Allah says that after their vigour and vivacity, He returns weakness and decrepitude to those He grants long life. Do they not reason and think about the state they were in at the beginning of their life and to what state they were reduced in their old age, to realize that this life on earth is ephemeral and that they were created for another eternal life?

69. We did not teach Our Messenger poetry. Neither is it correct nor meet for him to be a poet because of his rank and standing. Poetry does not become him for it is stimulated by whims and grudges while divine laws and religions transcend them. Allah then says that His messenger Mohammad but recites the clear and holy Quran which is revealed by Allah and which is immune from all sides to falsehood.

70. We have revealed the holy Quran so that all men who have live hearts and enlightened perceptions may be guided by it. As for the unbelievers, they are counted among the dead; the punishment which was announced to them is thus justified for the argument has been established against them. The Quran is then a mercy on believers and proof against unbelievers.

71. Do those deniers not see how We have created for them with Our own hands cattle like camels, cows and sheep to make use of them as they desire?

72. We have subjected these animals to them and made them obedient. Thus they will ride some, use others as beasts of burden and slaughter still others to eat their flesh.

73. Besides riding and slaughtering them, they make other uses of them: they benefit from the skin, wool and milk of these animals which they also use in tasks like irrigation, ploughing and others. Why do those unbelievers then not thank Allah for His blessings by obeying and worshipping Him alone without associate?

74. These polytheists worshipped gods other than Allah in the hope that they would help them, drive away punishment from them and bring them closer to Allah.

75. However, the gods they have worshipped instead of Allah can neither help nor provide for them, nor bring them closer to Allah. These idols and divinities will be mustered, humble and mean, to stand with those who worshipped them before Allah. Allah will thus add to the sorrow and pain of their worshippers, who worshipped what could neither harm nor benefit them and abandoned the worship of the One All-Powerful. In their life on earth, those polytheists were like armies around the divinities, driving away those who wanted to harm them. However, in the hereafter their divinities will neither help nor benefit them.

76. Do not grieve that those deniers say that you are a magician, a poet and a madman. Do not be saddened by their disbelief in Allah and in His verses. Almighty Allah knows all that they say and reveal and what they conceal in their breasts. He will repay them all amply.

77. Obay bin Khalaf came to the Messenger of Allah, with a decomposed bone in his hand which he began to crumble between his fingers and to scatter. He said to the Messenger (peace be upon him): “Do you claim that Allah can resurrect this?” The Messenger of Allah replied: “Yes, Allah will cause you to die, then He will resurrect you and finally lead you to the fire.” Thus this verse and the one that follows were revealed. The verse is a general reply to all those who denied the Resurrection. Allah says: “Has not he who denied the Resurrection deduced from the first creation the possibility of its repetition?” For Allah created man from a puny base sperm; before that he was nothing. Allah then fashioned him into a well-formed man who began to contend with his Lord and deny His ability to resurrect the bones after they have become dust.

78. This man then astonishingly denied the power of Allah to re-animate men when they are dead and their bones have disintegrated and become dust. He said: “Who can resuscitate bones when they have turned to dust?” This man, Allah’s adversary, has forgotten that Allah created him from a weak and base sperm and then made him a well-formed human being. Surely He Who can do this is capable of resurrecting the dead.

79. O Mohammad! Remind them about what they have forgotten concerning their creation from nothing and tell them: “He resurrects the bones which He created the first time from nothing. He knows everything related to the bones and where they are dispersed in the earth. Nothing escapes Him about His creatures. The Messenger of Allah said: “A dying man losing hope in life asked his sons to cremate him after death, pulverize his ashes, then, on a windy day, strew half his ashes on land and the other half in the sea. This was done. Allah commanded the sea to gather all that it contained of his ashes; He then commanded the earth to do the same. Then Allah said: “Be!” And there he was, a man standing before Him. He said to him: “What led you to do this?” The man answered: “Fear of You, You Who know best.” Allah then forgave him.” (Narrated by Imam Ahmed.)

80. It is Almighty Allah Who created green trees from water and rendered them verdant and fresh. Then He made them into dry wood with which to kindle fire. He is capable of changing the dry wood into luxuriant green trees. He Who is capable of doing this is capable of doing all that He wills. Nothing prevents Him from doing so. It is said that what is meant by this are the markh and ‘afar trees which grow in the lands of al-Hijaz (in Saudi Arabia). He who wants to start a fire but does not have a piece of iron to strike the flint with, takes two small green branches from these trees and strikes them together as if he were striking the flint with the iron and thus starts a fire.

81. Almighty Allah draws the attention of the unbelievers who deny His ability to resurrect the bones after they have become dust by saying that the creation of such bones is not more difficult than the creation of the heavens and the earth with all the wonders, creatures and planets they contain. Since the creation of the heavens and the earth, which is far more arduous, was neither impossible nor too difficult for Him, the recreation of man, which is simpler, is therefore not impossible for Him. Indeed, Allah is capable of recreating them because Almighty Allah is the exalted Creator, Who has created everything in existence. He is the All-Knowing of His creatures and their affairs, of all that disintegrates in their bodies and is scattered in the earth. Nothing of this escapes him.

82. If Allah wishes to create anything, He just says, “Be”, and it immediately is, without any delay. His command is never repeated as He says in another verse: “Our order is but one word, as the twinkling of an eye.” (See chapter 54- Al-Qamar (The Moon), 50.)

83. Hallowed be the name of Allah, our Lord, in Whose hands are the keys of all matters in the heavens and on the earth. To Him returns all the creation on the Day of Resurrection. He will then reward each according to his deeds in this life, good for good and evil for evil.