Popular Translations
Muhammad Asad
IS THEN -HE who was dead [in spirit] and whom We thereupon gave life, and for whom We set up a light whereby he might see his way among men - [is then he] like one [who is lost] in darkness deep, out of which he cannot emerge? [But] thus it is: goodly seem all their own doings to those who deny the truth
Arthur John Arberry
Why, is he who was dead, and We gave him life, and appointed for him a light to walk by among the people as one whose likeness is in the shadows, and comes not forth from them? So it is decked out fair to the unbelievers the things they have done
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
Can he who was dead, to whom We gave life, and a light whereby he can walk amongst men, be like him who is in the depths of darkness, from which he can never come out? Thus to those without faith their own deeds seem pleasing
Arabic
أَوَ مَن كَانَ مَیۡتࣰا فَأَحۡیَیۡنَـٰهُ وَجَعَلۡنَا لَهُۥ نُورࣰا یَمۡشِی بِهِۦ فِی ٱلنَّاسِ كَمَن مَّثَلُهُۥ فِی ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ لَیۡسَ بِخَارِجࣲ مِّنۡهَاۚ كَذَ ٰلِكَ زُیِّنَ لِلۡكَـٰفِرِینَ مَا كَانُوا۟ یَعۡمَلُونَ ١٢٢
Transliteration (2021)
awaman kāna maytan fa-aḥyaynāhu wajaʿalnā lahu nūran yamshī bihi fī l-nāsi kaman mathaluhu fī l-ẓulumāti laysa bikhārijin min'hā kadhālika zuyyina lil'kāfirīna mā kānū yaʿmalūn