Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Ahqaf Verse 26

Mufti Taqi Usmani

And indeed We had established them in a powerful position in which We did not establish you (O people of Makkah), and had given to them ears and eyes and hearts, but neither their ears benefited them in the least, nor their eyes, nor their hearts, as they used to reject Allah’s signs; and they were encircled by what they used to ridicule.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

Indeed, We had established them[[ The people of Hûd. ]] in a way We have not established you ˹Meccans˺. And We gave them hearing, sight, and intellect. But neither their hearing, sight, nor intellect were of any benefit to them whatsoever, since they persisted in denying Allah’s signs. And ˹so˺ they were overwhelmed by what they used to ridicule.

Ruwwad Translation Center

We had given them power to an extent that We have not given you [O Makkans], and We gave them hearing, sight, and hearts. But neither their hearing, nor their sight, nor their hearts availed them in the least, for they used to reject the signs of Allah. And they were overwhelmed by what they used to ridicule.

A. J. Arberry

And We had established them in that wherein We have not established you, and We appointed for them hearing, and sight, and hearts; and yet their hearing, their sight and their hearts availed them nothing, since they denied the signs of God, and they were encompassed by that they mocked at.

Abdul Haleem

We had established them in a way we have not established you [people of Mecca]; We gave them hearing, sight, and hearts, yet their hearing, sight, and hearts were of no use to them, since they denied God’s revelations. They were overwhelmed by the punishment they had mocked.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And assuredly We had established them in that flourishing condition wherein We have not established you, and We had appointed for them hearing and sight and hearts; yet their hearing and sight and heart availed them not at all, they became wont to gainsay the revelations of Allah, and surrounded them that whereat they had been mocking.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And We had firmly established them in a (prosperity and) power which We have not given to you (ye Quraish!) and We had endowed them with (faculties of) hearing, seeing, heart and intellect; but of no profit to them were their (faculties of) hearing, sight, and heart and intellect, when they went on rejecting the Signs of Allah; and they were (completely) encircled by that which they used to mock at!

Abul Ala Maududi

We had established them firmly in a manner We have not established you. We had given them ears and eyes and hearts. But nothing availed them -- neither their ears, nor their eyes, nor their hearts, for they denied the Signs of Allah. Then what they had mocked at encompassed them.

Ahmed Ali

We had strengthened them as We have not strengthened you, had given them ears and eyes and hearts; but nothing stood them in good stead, neither their ears nor eyes nor hearts, for they rejected the signs of God, and were seized by what they had mocked.

Ahmed Raza Khan

And We had indeed given them the means which We have not given you, and made ears and eyes and hearts for them; so their ears and eyes and hearts did not benefit them at all because they used to deny the signs of Allah, and the punishment they used to mock at encompassed them.

Ali Quli Qarai

Certainly We had granted them power in respects that We have not granted you, and We had vested them with hearing and sight and hearts. But neither their hearing availed them in any way nor did their sight, nor their hearts when they used to impugn the signs of Allah. So they were besieged by what they used to deride.

Ali Ünal

We had, assuredly, given them such power and prosperity (on the earth) that We have not given to you (O Quraysh), and We had endowed them with hearing and eyes and hearts (all the means of perception, outward and inward). But neither their ears, nor their eyes, nor their hearts, availed them anything, as they obstinately rejected God’s signs and Revelations, and what they used to mock overwhelmed them.

Amatul Rahman Omar

(Makkans!) We had given them power to do such things as We have not given you. We gave them hearing, eyes and hearts. But their hearing, their eyes and their hearts availed them not, since they persistently denied the signs of Allâh. And they were caught by that (punishment) which they held in very low estimation.

English Literal

And We had (E) highly positioned/strengthened them in what We have not highly positioned/strengthened you in it, and We made/put for them a sense of hearing , and eye sights, and hearts , so their sense of hearing , and nor their eye sights, and nor their hearts did not enrich/suffice from them a thing when they were disbelieving and denying with God`s evidences/verses ; and what they were with it mocking/making fun of surrounded/encircled with them.

Faridul Haque

And We had indeed given them the means which We have not given you, and made ears and eyes and hearts for them; so their ears and eyes and hearts did not benefit them at all because they used to deny the signs of Allah, and the punishment they used to mock at encompassed them.

Hamid S. Aziz

And certainly We had established (empowered, blessed) them in what We have not established (empowered, blessed) you (the Arabs) in, and We had given them (the faculties of) hearing and seeing and feeling, but neither their hearing, nor their seeing, nor their heart availed them aught, since they denied the revelations of Allah, and that which they mocked encompassed them.

Hilali & Khan

And indeed We had firmly established them with that wherewith We have not established you (O Quraish)! And We had assigned them the (faculties of) hearing (ears), seeing (eyes), and hearts, but their hearing (ears), seeing (eyes), and their hearts availed them nothing since they used to deny the Ayat (Allah's Prophets and their Prophethood, proofs, evidences, verses, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, and they were completely encircled by that which they used to mock at!

Maulana Mohammad Ali

Destroying every thing by the command of its Lord. So at dawn naught could be seen except their dwellings. Thus do We reward the guilty people.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And certainly We had established them in what We have not established you in, and We had given-- them ears and eyes and hearts, but neither their ears, nor their eyes, nor their hearts availed them aught, since they denied the communications of Allah, and that which they mocked encompassed them.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

And verily We had empowered them with that wherewith We have not empowered you, and had assigned them ears and eyes and hearts; but their ears and eyes and hearts availed them naught since they denied the revelations of Allah; and what they used to mock befell them.

Muhammad Sarwar

We had established them more firmly in the land than you are. We had given them ears, eyes, and hearts but none of their ears, eyes, and hearts proved to be of any benefit to them; they rejected the revelations of God and the torment which they mocked brought upon them utter destruction.

Qaribullah & Darwish

And We had established them in that which We have not established you, and We made for them hearing, sight, and hearts, but their hearing, sight, andhearts did not help them a thing, because they disbelieved the signs of Allah. And what they mocked encompassed them.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And indeed We had firmly established them with that wherewith We have not established you! We also gave them hearing, vision, and hearts. But their hearing, vision, and hearts availed them nothing since they used to deny the Ayat of Allah, and they were completely encircled by that which they used to ridicule!

Wahiduddin Khan

We had empowered them to an extent which We have not empowered you, [O people of later times]; and We had endowed them with hearing, and sight, and hearts: but neither their hearing, nor their sight, nor their hearts were of the least avail to them, since they went on rejecting God's revelations; and they were overwhelmed by the very thing which they had been wont to deride.

Talal Itani

We had empowered them in the same way as We empowered you; and We gave them the hearing, and the sight, and the minds. But neither their hearing, nor their sight, nor their minds availed them in any way. That is because they disregarded the revelations of God; and so they became surrounded by what they used to ridicule.

Tafsir jalalayn

And verily We had empowered them in ways in which We have not (in is either for negation or extra) empowered you, O people of Mecca, in the way of strength and means, and We had vested them with ears and eyes and hearts. But their ears and their eyes and their hearts did not avail them in any way (min shay'in; min is extra) since (idh, is operated by aghn, `avail', and imbued with the sense of [a particle introducing a] reason) they used to deny the signs of God, His clear proofs, and they were besieged by, there befell them, what they used to deride, of chastisement.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

Allah says,

وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَّاهُمْ فِيمَا إِن مَّكَّنَّاكُمْ فِيهِ

And indeed We had firmly established them with that wherewith We have not established you!

means, `We have granted the earlier nations wealth and offspring in the worldly life. That which We granted them, we did not give you anything similar or close to it.'

Furthermore,

وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُمْ سَمْعًا وَأَبْصَارًا وَأَفْيِدَةً

فَمَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُمْ سَمْعُهُمْ وَلَا أَبْصَارُهُمْ وَلَا أَفْيِدَتُهُم مِّن شَيْءٍ

إِذْ كَانُوا يَجْحَدُونَ بِأيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَحَاقَ بِهِم مَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِوُون




We also gave them hearing, vision, and hearts. But their hearing, vision, and hearts availed them nothing when they used to deny Allah's signs, and they were completely encircled by that which they used to ridicule!

meaning, they were encircled by the torment and exemplary punishment that they denied and whose occurrence they doubted.

This means, you listeners must beware of being like them lest a punishment similar to theirs strikes you in this life and the Hereafter.

Allah then says