Surah An-Nahl 16:33 — translation and meaning

النحل · Verse 33 / 128 · Page 270

ۚ ۚ هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَن تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ أَمْرُ رَبِّكَ كَذَلِكَ فَعَلَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَمَا ظَلَمَهُمُ اللَّهُ وَلَكِن كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ

Word by Word

ۚ
ۚ
هَلْ
hal
Do
يَنظُرُونَ
yanzuruna
they wait
إِلَّا
illa
except
أَن
an
that
تَأْتِيَهُمُ
tatiyahumu
(should) come to them
الْمَلَائِكَةُ
al-malaikatu
the Angels
أَوْ
aw
or
يَأْتِيَ
yatiya
(should) come
أَمْرُ
amru
(the) Command
رَبِّكَ
rabbika
(of) your Lord
كَذَلِكَ
kadhalika
Thus
فَعَلَ
fa'ala
did
الَّذِينَ
alladhina
those who
مِن
min
(were) before them
قَبْلِهِمْ
qablihim
(were) before them
وَمَا
wama
And not
ظَلَمَهُمُ
zalamahumu
wronged them
اللَّهُ
al-lahu
Allah
وَلَكِن
walakin
but
كَانُوا
kanu
they were
أَنفُسَهُمْ
anfusahum
themselves
يَظْلِمُونَ
yazlimuna
wronging

Transliteration

Hal yanzuroona illaaa an taatiyahumul malaaa'ikatu aw yaatiya amru Rabbik; kazaalika fa'alal lazeena min qablihim; wa maa zalamahumul laahu wa laakin kaanoo anfusahum yazlimoon

Translation

Do the disbelievers await [anything] except that the angels should come to them or there comes the command of your Lord? Thus did those do before them. And Allah wronged them not, but they had been wronging themselves.

Verse interpretation (Tafsir)

Are these denying idolaters waiting for anything but the angel of death and his aides to come to take their souls and strike their faces and their backs, or for Allah’s command to come to eradicate them by means of a punishment in the world? Similar to those idolaters who came before who were destroyed because if their idolatry; so too the idolaters of Makkah may perhaps meet the same fate. Allah did not wrong them when He destroyed them but they wronged their own souls by bringing them to the point of destruction because of their disbelief in Allah.

Source: Al-Mukhtasar Tafsir — Tafsir Center for Quranic Studies.

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