Qur’an reader
80. Abasa · He frowned
An opening correction about attention given to a blind seeker challenges judgments based on social influence. Reminders about revelation, human creation, food, and resurrection broaden that encounter into a call to receive guidance and remember shared dependence.
Editorial themes: Human dignity · Guidance · Creation · Resurrection
English: Marmaduke Pickthall (1930), public-domain translation. Arabic: Tanzil Project, Uthmani 1.1, used verbatim under its text licence. Text provenance & limitations →
A note on Arabic, English and verse numbering
Tanzil’s Arabic source includes the opening basmala with the first verse of surahs other than 9. Pickthall’s numbered translation includes it at 1:1; at other surah openings it is not repeated within the numbered English verse. This display preserves both source conventions. The Arabic is not a collection of all variant readings.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ عَبَسَ وَتَوَلَّىٰٓ
He frowned and turned away
أَن جَآءَهُ ٱلْأَعْمَىٰ
Because the blind man came unto him.
وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّهُۥ يَزَّكَّىٰٓ
What could inform thee but that he might grow (in grace)
أَوْ يَذَّكَّرُ فَتَنفَعَهُ ٱلذِّكْرَىٰٓ
Or take heed and so the reminder might avail him?
أَمَّا مَنِ ٱسْتَغْنَىٰ
As for him who thinketh himself independent,
فَأَنتَ لَهُۥ تَصَدَّىٰ
Unto him thou payest regard.
وَمَا عَلَيْكَ أَلَّا يَزَّكَّىٰ
Yet it is not thy concern if he grow not (in grace).
وَأَمَّا مَن جَآءَكَ يَسْعَىٰ
But as for him who cometh unto thee with earnest purpose
وَهُوَ يَخْشَىٰ
And hath fear,
فَأَنتَ عَنْهُ تَلَهَّىٰ
From him thou art distracted.
كَلَّآ إِنَّهَا تَذْكِرَةٌ
Nay, but verily it is an Admonishment,
فَمَن شَآءَ ذَكَرَهُۥ
So let whosoever will pay heed to it,
فِى صُحُفٍ مُّكَرَّمَةٍ
On honoured leaves
مَّرْفُوعَةٍ مُّطَهَّرَةٍۭ
Exalted, purified,
بِأَيْدِى سَفَرَةٍ
(Set down) by scribes
كِرَامٍۭ بَرَرَةٍ
Noble and righteous.
قُتِلَ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ مَآ أَكْفَرَهُۥ
Man is (self-)destroyed: how ungrateful!
مِنْ أَىِّ شَىْءٍ خَلَقَهُۥ
From what thing doth He create him?
مِن نُّطْفَةٍ خَلَقَهُۥ فَقَدَّرَهُۥ
From a drop of seed. He createth him and proportioneth him,
ثُمَّ ٱلسَّبِيلَ يَسَّرَهُۥ
Then maketh the way easy for him,
ثُمَّ أَمَاتَهُۥ فَأَقْبَرَهُۥ
Then causeth him to die, and burieth him;
ثُمَّ إِذَا شَآءَ أَنشَرَهُۥ
Then, when He will, He bringeth him again to life.
كَلَّا لَمَّا يَقْضِ مَآ أَمَرَهُۥ
Nay, but (man) hath not done what He commanded him.
فَلْيَنظُرِ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ إِلَىٰ طَعَامِهِۦٓ
Let man consider his food:
أَنَّا صَبَبْنَا ٱلْمَآءَ صَبًّا
How We pour water in showers
ثُمَّ شَقَقْنَا ٱلْأَرْضَ شَقًّا
Then split the earth in clefts
فَأَنۢبَتْنَا فِيهَا حَبًّا
And cause the grain to grow therein
وَعِنَبًا وَقَضْبًا
And grapes and green fodder
وَزَيْتُونًا وَنَخْلًا
And olive-trees and palm-trees
وَحَدَآئِقَ غُلْبًا
And garden-closes of thick foliage
وَفَٰكِهَةً وَأَبًّا
And fruits and grasses:
مَّتَٰعًا لَّكُمْ وَلِأَنْعَٰمِكُمْ
Provision for you and your cattle.
فَإِذَا جَآءَتِ ٱلصَّآخَّةُ
But when the Shout cometh
يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ ٱلْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ
On the day when a man fleeth from his brother
وَأُمِّهِۦ وَأَبِيهِ
And his mother and his father
وَصَٰحِبَتِهِۦ وَبَنِيهِ
And his wife and his children,
لِكُلِّ ٱمْرِئٍ مِّنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ
Every man that day will have concern enough to make him heedless (of others).
وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ مُّسْفِرَةٌ
On that day faces will be bright as dawn,
ضَاحِكَةٌ مُّسْتَبْشِرَةٌ
Laughing, rejoicing at good news;
وَوُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَلَيْهَا غَبَرَةٌ
And other faces, on that day, with dust upon them,
تَرْهَقُهَا قَتَرَةٌ
Veiled in darkness,
أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْكَفَرَةُ ٱلْفَجَرَةُ
Those are the disbelievers, the wicked.