←Prev   Ayah al-Ahqaf (The Wind-curved Sandhills, The Dunes, The Sandhills) 46:28   Next→ 

Popular and/or Featured Works
Muhammad Asad   
But, then, did those [beings] whom they had chosen to worship as deities beside God, hoping that they would bring them nearer [to Him], help them [in the end]? Nay, they forsook them: for that [alleged divinity] was but an outcome of their self-delusion and all their false imagery
The Clear Quran, Dr. Mustafa Khattab   
Why then did those ˹idols˺ they took as gods—hoping to get closer ˹to Him˺—not come to their aid? Instead, they failed them. That is ˹the result of˺ their lies and their fabrications.
Safi Kaskas   
Why then did those idols, whom they worshiped to bring them nearer to God, not help them? In fact, they abandoned them. It was all falsehood of their own making.

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Source Arabic and Literal tools
Arabic   
فَلَوْلَا نَصَرَهُمُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ قُرْبَانًا آلِهَةً بَلْ ضَلُّوا عَنْهُمْ وَذَٰلِكَ إِفْكُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُون
Transliteration (2021)   
falawlā naṣarahumu alladhīna ittakhadhū min dūni l-lahi qur'bānan ālihatan bal ḍallū ʿanhum wadhālika if'kuhum wamā kānū yaftarūn
Word for Word
Dr. Shehnaz Shaikh, Ms. Kauser Katri, and more
  
Then why (did) not help them those whom they had taken from besides Allah sacrifice (to their) gods? Nay, they were lost from them. And that (was) their falsehood and what they were inventing.

Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning
Muhammad Asad   
But, then, did those [beings] whom they had chosen to worship as deities beside God, hoping that they would bring them nearer [to Him], help them [in the end]? Nay, they forsook them: for that [alleged divinity] was but an outcome of their self-delusion and all their false imagery
M. M. Pickthall   
Then why did those whom they had chosen for gods as a way of approach (unto Allah) not help them? Nay, but they did fail them utterly. And (all) that was their lie, and what they used to invent
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)   
Why then was no help forthcoming to them from those whom they worshipped as gods, besides Allah, as a means of access (to Allah)? Nay, they left them in the lurch: but that was their falsehood and their invention
The Clear Quran, Dr. Mustafa Khattab   
Why then did those ˹idols˺ they took as gods—hoping to get closer ˹to Him˺—not come to their aid? Instead, they failed them. That is ˹the result of˺ their lies and their fabrications.
Safi Kaskas   
Why then did those idols, whom they worshiped to bring them nearer to God, not help them? In fact, they abandoned them. It was all falsehood of their own making.
Wahiduddin Khan   
so why did their gods not help them, those they set up as gods besides God to bring them nearer to Him? No indeed! They failed them utterly: it was all a lie, a fabrication of their own making
Shakir   
Why did not then those help them whom they took for gods besides Allah to draw (them) nigh (to Him)? Nay! they were lost to them; and this was their lie and what they forged
Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar   
Then, why helped them not those whom they took to themselves other than God as gods as a mediator. Nay! They went astray from them. And that was their calumny and what they had been devising.
T.B.Irving   
If only those whom they have adopted as gods in order to gain access [to Heaven] instead of [trusting] God, had supported them! Instead they left them in the lurch. That was because of their shamming and of what they had invented.
Abdul Hye   
Then why did those whom they had taken as deities besides Allah, as a way of approach (to Allah) not help them? Nay, but they (deities) vanished completely from them (where punishment came). Those were their lies and false inventions (before their destruction).
The Study Quran   
Why, then, did they—whom they had taken as gods apart from God and as a means of drawing nigh [unto God]—not help them? Nay, they forsook them. That was their perversion and that which they used to fabricate
Dr. Kamal Omar   
So why didn’t help them those whom they adopted besides Allah as a way of nearness (to Him) — as aaliha (gods)? Nay! They deserted them. And that is their lie (that they need a false god for attaining nearness to the Real God), and this is what they used to forge and invent (as a belief and as a practice)
Farook Malik   
- Then Why did not those whom they worshipped besides Allah help them who they regarded as a means of attaining nearness to Him? But those deities utterly forsook them, because those were nothing but their lies and their false inventions
Talal A. Itani (new translation)   
Why then did the idols, whom they worshiped as means of nearness to God, not help them? In fact, they abandoned them. It was their lie, a fabrication of their own making
Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali   
Then had the ones whom they had taken to themselves as near-stationed (mediators), gods, apart from Allah, vindicated them? No indeed, (but) they erred away from them, and that was their falsehood and what they used to fabricate
Muhammad Sarwar   
Why did the idols, whom they worshipped as a means of pleasing God, not help them? In fact, they proved to be the cause of their going astray and it were lies which they had falsely invented lies
Muhammad Taqi Usmani   
So, why is it that they were not helped by those whom they had taken as gods beside Allah in order to attain closeness (to Him)? Instead, they vanished from them. That was, in fact, their falsity and a thing they used to fabricate
Shabbir Ahmed   
Why did then no help come to them from those whom they idolized besides Allah, as a means of nearness (to Him)? Nay, their idols abandoned them, for that was their falsehood and fabrication
Dr. Munir Munshey   
They took other beings instead of Allah _ the ones they thought would confer upon them a privileged status with Him. Why do those beings not help them (now)? In fact, those beings have now vanished. They are just some trumped up tales and lies, they had invented
Syed Vickar Ahamed   
As for those whom they worshipped as gods, besides Allah, as a means to reach (to Allah) why then was no help coming to them (from false gods)? No! They (the false gods) left them helpless: But that was their falsehood and their invention
Umm Muhammad (Sahih International)   
Then why did those they took besides Allah as deities by which to approach [Him] not aid them? But they had strayed from them. And that was their falsehood and what they were inventing
[The Monotheist Group] (2011 Edition)   
Why then did the idols they set up to bring them closer to God fail to help them Instead, they abandoned them. Such was their lie, and what they fabricated
Abdel Haleem   
so why did their gods not help them, those they set up as gods besides God to bring them nearer to Him? No indeed! They failed them utterly: it was all a lie of their own making
Abdul Majid Daryabadi   
Then wherefore succoured them not those whom they had taken for gods beside Allah, as a means of approach? Aye! they failed them. And that was their lie, that which they had been fabricating
Ahmed Ali   
Why then did the gods they had taken apart from God as propitiators, not come to their aid? In fact they strayed away from them. It was all a lie what they had contrived
Aisha Bewley   
Why have those they took as gods besides Allah, to bring them near to Him, not come to their aid? No, in fact they have forsaken them! That was a fiction, something they invented.
Ali Ünal   
So, why did those whom they took for deities apart from God as a means of nearness (to God) not help them (against God’s punishment)? Rather, they failed them. That was (the end result of) their falsehood and all that they used to fabricate (of slanders against God)
Ali Quli Qara'i   
So why did not those [false gods] help them whom they had taken, besides Allah, as gods, as means of nearness [to Him]? Rather they forsook them; and that was their lie and what they used to fabricate
Hamid S. Aziz   
Why did not then those help them whom they took for gods besides Allah to draw them nigh (to Him)? Nay! They were lost to them; and this was their lie and what they forged
Ali Bakhtiari Nejad   
So why those whom they took as gods besides God to get closer (to Him) did not help them? No, but they abandoned them. And that was their lie and what they used to make up
A.L. Bilal Muhammad et al (2018)   
Why then was no help forthcoming from those who they worshipped as gods besides God, as a means to access Him? No, they left them, because they were not real
Musharraf Hussain   
So why weren’t they helped by the idols they took for nearness to gods beside Allah? In fact they deserted them, and this was the lie they invented
Maududi   
So why did those whom they had set up as gods apart from Allah, hoping that they would bring them nearer to Him, not come to their aid? Instead, they failed them. This was the end of the lie they had fabricated and the false beliefs they had invented
[The Monotheist Group] (2013 Edition)   
They were to be supported by those who had established offerings to gods instead of God. Alas, they abandoned them. Such was their lie, and what they fabricated.
Mohammad Shafi   
Then why did those, whom they had taken as means — besides Allah — of approach to divinity, not help them? Nay! But they shunned them. And it was all their lie and forgery

Controversial or status undetermined works
Ahmed Raza Khan (Barelvi)   
Why, then did not those help them whom they had taken for God's beside Allah for attaining His nearness? Nay, rather they were lost from them, and thus is their calumny and fabrication.
Rashad Khalifa   
Why then did the idols they set up to bring them closer to GOD fail to help them? Instead, they abandoned them. Such were the false gods they idolized; such were the innovations they fabricated.
Hasan Al-Fatih Qaribullah   
Why did not those who they took, other than Allah, as mediating gods help them! Indeed, they went astray from them! Such were their lies and what they were forging
Maulana Muhammad Ali   
Then why did those whom they took for gods besides Allah to draw (them) nigh (to Him) not help them? Nay, they failed them. And this was their lie and what they forged
Muhammad Ahmed - Samira   
So if only those whom they took (as) an approachment to God, gods from other than God gave them victory/aid (if only their gods that they worship other than God would give them victory), but they misguided from them, and that (is) their lies/falsehood, and what they were fabricating/cutting and splitting
Bijan Moeinian   
Why their idols did then abandoned them instead of helping them? That is because those gods were fake; invented by their imaginations
Faridul Haque   
So why did they - the ones whom they had chosen as gods as a means of attaining Allah’s proximity - not help them? In fact the disbelievers lost them; and this is just their slander and fabrication
Sher Ali   
Why, then, did not those help them whom they had taken for gods beside ALLAH that they might bring them near to Him? Nay, they were lost to them. That was the consequence of their lie, and of what they fabricated
Dr. Mohammad Tahir-ul-Qadri   
Then why did those (idols) not come to their aid, which they had taken as gods besides Allah for attaining (His) nearness? But in fact, they (false gods) were lost from them. And this (setting up false gods) was their lie. And (it was) this fabrication that they used to weave
Amatul Rahman Omar   
Why then, did not those beings whom they had taken up for gods apart from Allah to bring (them) close (to Him) help them? Instead (of being any help to them) they were lost to them. Such was (the outcome of) their lie and (of) what they fabricated (that their gods were a means to bring them close to God)
Muhsin Khan & Muhammad al-Hilali   
Then why did those whom they had taken for aliha (gods) besides Allah, as a way of approach (to Allah) not help them? Nay, but they vanished completely from them (when there came the torment). And that was their lie, and their inventions which they had been inventing (before their destruction)

Non-Muslim and/or Orientalist works
Arthur John Arberry   
Then why did those not help them that they had taken to themselves as mediators, gods apart from God? Not so; but they went astray from them, and that was their calumny, and what they had been forging
George Sale   
Did those protect them, whom they took for gods, besides God, and imagined to be honoured with his familiarity? Nay; they withdrew from them: Yet this was their false opinion which seduced them, and the blasphemy which they had devised
Edward Henry Palmer   
Why did not those help them, whom beside God they took for gods that could draw nigh to Him? Nay! they strayed away from them; for that was their lie and what they had forced
John Medows Rodwell   
But did those whom they took for gods beside God as his kindred deities, help them? Nay, they withdrew from them. Such was their delusion, and their device
N J Dawood (2014)   
Why did their gods not help them, gods they had set up besides God to bring them close to Him? Indeed, they utterly forsook them. Such were their lies, and such their false inventions

New, Partial, or In Progress Translations
Linda “iLHam” Barto   
Why did those that they accepted as gods besides Allah, as a means of access to Allah, not help them? (The gods) abandoned them, but that was their deceit and fabrication.
Irving & Mohamed Hegab   
If only those whom they have adopted as gods in order to gain access [to Heaven] instead of [trusting] Allah (God), had supported them! Instead they left them in the lurch. That was because of their shamming and of what they had invented.
Ahmed Hulusi   
Were the gods, which they took besides Allah assuming they would bring them closer, of any help to them? On the contrary (their deities) vanished from them! This (their assumption of god) is a lie and a fabrication of their own making!
Mir Aneesuddin   
Then why did those whom they had taken as gods besides Allah (for achieving) nearness (to Him), not help them? No, they disappeared from them, and that was their falsehood and that which they used to forge.
Al-muntakhab fi tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim   
Did those whom they worshipped in accession to Allah afford them aid or! assistance Never. Contrarily, they could not find them, and it serves them right; they befooled the minds and the judgment of the people so as to cause what is false to be accepted as true

Obsolete and/or older editions
Yusuf Ali (Orig. 1938)   
Why then was no help forthcoming to them from those whom they worshipped as gods, besides God, as a means of access (to God)? Nay, they left them in the lurch: but that was their falsehood and their invention
OLD Literal Word for Word   
Then why (did) not help them those whom they had taken besides Allah gods as a way of approach? Nay, they were lost from them. And that (was) their falsehood and what they were inventing