Surah 89
Daybreak
Al-Fajr 🌇
Reviewing the historic downfalls of powerful but corrupt empires like Iram, Pharaoh, and Thamud, this surah warns against loving wealth too much and neglecting orphans. Its title comes from the very first verse, which swears a solemn oath by the morning daybreak.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
1By the Daybreak,
2By the Ten Nights,
3By the even and the odd,
4By the passing night —
5Is this oath strong enough for a rational person?
6Have you [Prophet] considered how your Lord dealt with [the people] of Ad,
7Of Iram, [the city] of lofty pillars,
8Whose like has never been made in any land,
9And the Thamud, who hewed into the rocks in the valley,
10And the mighty and powerful Pharaoh?
11All of them committed excesses in their lands,
12And spread corruption there:
13Your Lord let a scourge of punishment loose on them.
14Your Lord is always watchful.
15[The nature of] man is that, when his Lord tries him through honour and blessings, he says, “My Lord has honoured me,”
16But when He tries him through the restriction of his provision, he says, “My Lord has humiliated me.”
17No indeed! You [people] do not honour orphans,
18You do not urge one another to feed the poor,
19You consume inheritance greedily,
20And you love wealth with a passion.
21No indeed! When the earth is pounded to dust, pounded and pounded,
22When your Lord comes with the angels, rank upon rank,
23When Hell is that Day brought near — on that Day man will take heed, but what good will that be to him then?
24He will say, “Would that I had provided for this life to come!”
25On that Day, no one will punish as He punishes,
26And no one will bind as He binds. 27 “[But] you, soul at peace:
27“[But] you, soul at peace.
28Return to your Lord well pleased and well pleasing —
29Go in among My servants —
30And into My Garden.”