Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Ma'idah Verse 60

Mufti Taqi Usmani

Say, “Shall I tell you about the ones whose retribution with Allah is worse than that (which you deem bad)? They are those whom Allah has subjected to His curse and to His wrath; and He has turned some of them into apes and swine, those who worshipped Tāghūt (Satan, the Rebel). Those are worse in their situation, and far more astray from the straight path.”

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Shall I inform you of those who deserve a worse punishment from Allah ˹than the rebellious˺? It is those who earned Allah’s condemnation and displeasure—some being reduced to apes and pigs[[ Literally or metaphorically. See footnote for {2:65}. ]] and worshippers of false gods. These are far worse in rank and farther astray from the Right Way.”

Ruwwad Translation Center

Say, “Shall I inform you of those who deserve a worse punishment from Allah? Those who have been cursed by Allah and incurred His wrath, and He turned them into monkeys and pigs, and devil worshipers. Such are far worse in position and farther astray from the straight path.”

A. J. Arberry

Say: 'Shall I tell you of a recompense with God, worse than that? Whomsoever God has cursed, and with whom He is wroth, and made some of them apes and swine, and worshippers of idols -- they are worse situated, and have gone further astray from the right way.

Abdul Haleem

Say, ‘Shall I tell you who deserves a worse punishment from God than [the one you wish upon] us? Those God distanced from Himself, was angry with, and condemned as apes and pigs, and those who worship idols: they are worse in rank and have strayed further from the right path.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

Say thou: shall I declare unto you something worse as a way with Allah than that? Whomsoever Allah hath accursed and is angered with, and of whom some He hath made apes and swine and slaves of the devil - those are worst in abode and furthest astray from the level way.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Say; "Shall I point out to you something much worse than this, (as judged) by the treatment it received from Allah? those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom some He transformed into apes and swine, those who worshipped evil;- these are (many times) worse in rank, and far more astray from the even path!"

Abul Ala Maududi

Then say to them: 'Shall I tell you about those whose retribution with Allah is even worse? They are the ones whom Allah has cursed, and who incurred His wrath and some of whom were changed into apes and swine, and who served the false deities. Such have an even worse rank and have strayed farther away from the right path.

Ahmed Ali

Say: "Shall I inform you who will receive the worst chastisement from God? They who were condemned by God, and on whom fell His wrath, and those who were turned to apes and swine, and those who worship the powers of evil. They are in the worse gradation, and farthest away from the right path."

Ahmed Raza Khan

Say, “Shall I tell you of those who are in a worse position than this, in Allah’s sight? It is those whom Allah has cursed and has wreaked His wrath upon and turned some of them into apes and swine, and worshippers of the devil; theirs is a worse destination and they have wandered further astray from the Straight Path.”

Ali Quli Qarai

Say, ‘Shall I inform you concerning something worse than that as a requital from Allah? Those whom Allah has cursed and with whom He is wrathful, and turned some of whom into apes and swine, and worshippers of fake deities! Such are in a worse situation and more astray from the right way.’

Ali Ünal

Say: "Shall I tell you of a case the worst of all for recompense with God? Those whom God has cursed (excluded from His mercy), and whom He has utterly condemned, and some of whom He turned into apes, and swine, and servants of false powers (who institute patterns of rule in defiance of God) – they are worse situated and further astray from the right, even way."

Amatul Rahman Omar

Say, `Shall I inform you of those who shall receive from Allâh a recompense worse than that of those (who try to find fault with Us)? They are those whom Allâh has deprived of His blessings and upon whom He brought His displeasure and indignation and of whom He has made (as) apes and swine and who serve the transgressor (- the devil). It is these who are indeed worse-placed and farther astray from the right path.´

English Literal

Say: "Do I inform you with worse/more hateful than that? Replacement/compensation (from) at God, whom God cursed/humiliated , and He became angry/angered (at) on him, and He made/created from them the apes/monkeys and the pigs/swine , and the everything worshipped other than God`s/devil`s worshippers, those (are at) a worse place/position and more misguided, from the way`s/road`s middle/straightness."

Faridul Haque

Say, “Shall I tell you of those who are in a worse position than this, in Allah’s sight? It is those whom Allah has cursed and has wreaked His wrath upon and turned some of them into apes and swine, and worshippers of the devil; theirs is a worse destination and they have wandered further astray from the Straight Path.”

Hamid S. Aziz

When they come to you they say, "We believe;" but they entered with unbelief, and they went out the same way, and Allah knows best what they did hide.

Hilali & Khan

Say (O Muhammad SAW to the people of the Scripture): "Shall I inform you of something worse than that, regarding the recompense from Allah: those (Jews) who incurred the Curse of Allah and His Wrath, those of whom (some) He transformed into monkeys and swines, those who worshipped Taghut (false deities); such are worse in rank (on the Day of Resurrection in the Hell-fire), and far more astray from the Right Path (in the life of this world)."

Maulana Mohammad Ali

Say: O People of the Book, do you find fault with us for aught except that we believe in Allah and in that which has been revealed to us and that which was revealed before, while most of you are transgressors?

Mohammad Habib Shakir

Say: Shall I inform you of (him who is) worse than this in retribution from Allah? (Worse is he) whom Allah has cursed and brought His wrath upon, and of whom He made apes and swine, and he who served the Shaitan; these are worse in place and more erring from the straight path.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Shall I tell thee of a worse (case) than theirs for retribution with Allah? (Worse is the case of him) whom Allah hath cursed, him on whom His wrath hath fallen and of whose sort Allah hath turned some to apes and swine, and who serveth idols. Such are in worse plight and further astray from the plain road.

Muhammad Sarwar

Say, "Should I tell you who will receive the worst punishment from God? Those whom God has condemned, afflicted with His anger, made apes out of them, swine and worshippers of Satan, will have the worst dwelling and will wander far away from the right path."

Qaribullah & Darwish

Say: 'Shall I tell you who will receive a worse recompense from Allah than that? Those whom Allah has cursed and with whom He is angry, and made some of them apes and swine, and those who worship the devil. The place of these is worse, and they have strayed further from the Right Path'

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

Say: "Shall I inform you of something worse than that, regarding the recompense from Allah: those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, and those of whom He transformed into monkeys and swine, and those who worshipped Taghut; such are worse in rank, and far more astray from the straight path."

Wahiduddin Khan

Say, "Shall I tell you who will receive a worse reward from God? Those whom God has rejected and with whom He has been angry. They were condemned as apes and swine and those who worship the evil. These are in the worst plight and farthest astray from the right path."

Talal Itani

Say, “Shall I inform you of worse than that for retribution from God? He whom God has cursed, and with whom He became angry; and He turned some of them into apes, and swine, and idol worshipers. These are in a worse position, and further away from the right way.”

Tafsir jalalayn

Say; `Shall I tell you, [shall] I inform you, of what is worse than, the followers of, that, about which you are spiteful, by way of reward, requital, from God? They are, those whom God has cursed, [whom] He has removed from His mercy, and with whom He is wroth, and some of whom He has turned into apes and swine, by transformation, and, those who, worship the false deity, Satan, by obeying him (the particle minhum, `some of whom', takes into account the [potentially plural] import of the particle min, `[those] whom', and in what precedes [minhum, `some of whom'], the [singular] form [of min is taken into account]; a variant reading has `abuda al-tght as [the genitive of] an annexation, `abud being a [variant] plural of `abd; the accusative ending [of `abuda] is because the clause is a supplement to al-qirada, `apes'), and these were the Jews. They are worse situated (maknan is for specification), for their abode shall be the Fire, and further astray from the even way', from the path of truth (al-saw' originally means al-wasat, `middle'); the use of sharrun, `worse', and adallu, `further astray', is intended to counter their saying, `We know of no religion worse [sharrun] than yours'.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

قُلْ هَلْ أُنَبِّيُكُم بِشَرٍّ مِّن ذَلِكَ مَثُوبَةً عِندَ اللّهِ

Say;"Shall I inform you of something worse than that, regarding the recompense from Allah!"

The Ayah commands the Prophet to say;Shall I inform you about a worse people with Allah on the Day of Resurrection than what you think of us!

They are you, with these characteristics,

مَن لَّعَنَهُ اللّهُ

those who incurred the curse of Allah,

were expelled from His mercy,

وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ

and who incurred His wrath,

and anger, after which He will never be pleased with them,

وَجَعَلَ مِنْهُمُ الْقِرَدَةَ وَالْخَنَازِيرَ

those of whom He transformed into monkeys and swine,

as we mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah and as we will mention in Surah Al-A`raf.

Sufyan Ath-Thawri narrated that Ibn Mas`ud said,

"Allah's Messenger was asked if the current monkeys and swine were those whom Allah transformed. He said,

إنَّ اللهَ لَمْ يُهْلِكْ قَوْمًا أَوْ لَمْ يَمْسَخْ قَوْمًا فَيَجْعَلَ لَهُمْ نَسْلً وَلَا عَقِبًا وَإِنَّ الْقِرَدَةَ وَالْخَنَازِيرَ كَانَتْ قَبْلَ ذلِك

Allah never destroyed a people by transforming them and making offspring or descendants for them. The monkeys and swine existed before that."

This was also recorded by Muslim.

Allah said,

وَعَبَدَ الطَّاغُوتَ

Those who worshipped Taghut...,

and served them, becoming their servants.

The meaning of this Ayah is;

you, O People of the Scriptures, who mock our religion, which consists of Allah's Tawhid, and singling Him out in worship without others, how can you mock us while these are your characteristics!

This is why Allah said,

أُوْلَـيِكَ شَرٌّ مَّكَاناً

such are worse in rank...,

than what you -- People of the Scriptures -- think of us Muslims,

وَأَضَلُّ عَن سَوَاء السَّبِيلِ



and far more astray from the straight path.

`More' in the Ayah does not mean that the other party is `less' astray, but it means that the People of the Scriptures are far astray.

In another Ayah, Allah said,

أَصْحَـبُ الْجَنَّةِ يَوْمَيِذٍ خَيْرٌ مُّسْتَقَرّاً وَأَحْسَنُ مَقِيلً

The dwellers of Paradise will, on that Day, have the best abode, and have the fairest of places for repose. (25;24)
The Hypocrites Pretend to be Believers but Hide their Kufr

Allah said