Al-Qur'an Surah Ar-Rum Verse 53

Mufti Taqi Usmani

Nor are you (able) to show the right path to the blind against their straying. You can make none to listen except those who believe in Our signs, hence they submit.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

Nor can you lead the blind out of their misguidance. You can make none hear ˹the truth˺ except those who believe in Our revelations, ˹fully˺ submitting ˹to Allah˺.

Ruwwad Translation Center

Nor can you guide the blind out of their misguidance. You cannot make anyone hear except those who believe in Our verses, for they are ready to submit [to Allah].

A. J. Arberry

Thou shalt not guide the blind out of their error neither shalt thou make any to hear except for such as believe in Our signs, and so surrender.

Abdul Haleem

you cannot lead the blind out of their error: the only ones you can make hear you are those who believe in Our revelations and devote themselves [to Us].

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

Nor canst thou be a guide to the blind out of their error; thou canst make none to hear save those who believe in Our signs, and who have surrendered themselves.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Nor canst thou lead back the blind from their straying; only those wilt thou make to hear, who believe in Our signs and submit (their wills in Islam).

Abul Ala Maududi

nor can you guide the blind out of their error. You can make none hear (your call) except those who believe in Our Signs and have surrendered themselves (to Him).

Ahmed Ali

Nor can you make the blind see the way when they have gone astray. You can make none hear except those who believe Our signs and have come to submission.

Ahmed Raza Khan

Nor do you guide the blind out of their error; you only make those hear who believe in Our signs, so they have submitted. (The disbelievers are referred to as blind.)

Ali Quli Qarai

nor can you lead the blind out of their error. You can make only those hear who have faith in Our signs and have submitted.

Ali Ünal

Nor can you guide the blind out of their error. None can you make hear save those who (being capable of reflection without prejudice) believe in Our Revelations and signs (in the outer world as well as in their inner world), and are (therefore) ready to submit (to the truth).

Amatul Rahman Omar

Nor can you guide the blind out of their error. You can make only those hear who would believe in Our Messages and submit (to Us).

English Literal

And you are not with guiding the blind/misguided from their misguidance, you make none hear/listen except who believes with (in) Our verses/evidences , so they are Moslems/submitters .

Faridul Haque

Nor do you guide the blind out of their error; you only make those hear who believe in Our signs, so they have submitted. (The disbelievers are referred to as blind.)

Hamid S. Aziz

For surely you can not make the dead to hear and you can not make the deaf to hear the call when they have turned away (or their backs to flee).

Hilali & Khan

And you (O Muhammad SAW) cannot guide the blind from their straying; you can make to hear only those who believe in Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), and have submitted to Allah in Islam (as Muslims).

Maulana Mohammad Ali

And if We send a wind and they see it yellow, they would after that certainly continue to disbelieve.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

Nor can you lead away the blind out of their error. You cannot make to hear any but those who believe in Our communications so they shall submit.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Nor canst thou guide the blind out of their error. Thou canst make none to hear save those who believe in Our revelations so that they surrender (unto Him).

Muhammad Sarwar

You cannot guide the straying blind. You can make no one listen except those who believe in Our revelations and are Muslims.

Qaribullah & Darwish

You cannot guide the blind out of their error. Nor shall you make any to hear except those who believe in Our verses, and are submissive.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And you cannot guide the blind from their straying; you can make to hear only those who believe in Our Ayat, and have submitted (to Allah in Islam).

Wahiduddin Khan

just as you cannot lead the blind [of heart] out of their error, you cannot make anyone hear your call save those who are willing to believe in Our revelations, and thus surrender themselves to Us and are submissive to Our will.

Talal Itani

Nor can you guide the blind out of their error. You can make hear only those who believe in Our signs, and so have submitted.

Tafsir jalalayn

Nor can you guide the blind out of their error. You can only make hear, in a way so as to understand and accept, those who believe in Our signs, [in] the Qur'n, and have thus submitted, sincere in their affirmation of God's Oneness.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

وَمَا أَنتَ بِهَادِي الْعُمْيِ عَن ضَلَلَتِهِمْ

So verily, you cannot make the dead to hear, nor can you make the deaf to hear the call, when they show their backs and turn away.

And you cannot guide the blind from their straying;

Allah says, `just as you are not able to make the dead hear in their graves, or to make your words reach the deaf who cannot hear and who still turn away from you, so too you cannot guide the blind to the truth and bring them back from their misguidance.'

That is a matter which rests with Allah, for by His power He can make the dead hear the voices of the living if He wills. He guides whom He wills and sends astray whom He wills, and no one but He has the power to do this.

Allah says;

إِن تُسْمِعُ إِلاَّ مَن يُوْمِنُ بِأيَاتِنَا فَهُم مُّسْلِمُونَ



you can make to hear only those who believe in Our Ayat, and have submitted (to Allah in Islam).

means, those who are humble and who respond and obey. These are the ones who will listen to the truth and follow it; this is the state of the believers; the former (being deaf and blind) is the state of the disbelievers, as Allah says;

إِنَّمَا يَسْتَجِيبُ الَّذِينَ يَسْمَعُونَ وَالْمَوْتَى يَبْعَثُهُمُ اللَّهُ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُونَ

It is only those who listen will respond, but as for the dead, Allah will raise them up, then to Him they will be returned. (6;36)

A'ishah, the Mother of the faithful, may Allah be pleased with her, used this Ayah --
إِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَى
(So verily, you cannot make the dead to hear), as evidence against Abdullah bin Umar when he reported that the Prophet had addressed the slain disbelievers who had been thrown into a dry well three days after the battle of Badr, rebuking and reprimanding them, until Umar said, "O Messenger of Allah, are you addressing people who are dead bodies?"

He said;

وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ مَا أَنْتُمْ بِأَسْمَعَ لِمَا أَقُولُ مِنْهُمْ وَلَكِنْ لَاا يُجِيبُون

By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, you do not hear what I say any better than they do, but they cannot respond.

A'ishah interpreted this event to mean that the Prophet was making the point that now they would know that what he had been telling them was true.

Qatadah said;

"Allah brought them back to life for him so that they could hear what he said by way of rebuke and vengeance.