Popular Translations
Muhammad Asad
And whenever Our messages were conveyed to them, they would say, "We have heard [all this] before; if we wanted, we could certainly compose sayings like these [ourselves]: they are nothing but fables of ancient times!"
Arthur John Arberry
And When Our signs were being recited to them, they said, 'We have already heard; if we wished, we could say the like of this; this is naught but the fairy-tales of the ancients.
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
When Our Signs are rehearsed to them, they say: "We have heard this (before): if we wished, we could say (words) like these: these are nothing but tales of the ancients."
Arabic
وَإِذَا تُتۡلَىٰ عَلَیۡهِمۡ ءَایَـٰتُنَا قَالُوا۟ قَدۡ سَمِعۡنَا لَوۡ نَشَاۤءُ لَقُلۡنَا مِثۡلَ هَـٰذَاۤ إِنۡ هَـٰذَاۤ إِلَّاۤ أَسَـٰطِیرُ ٱلۡأَوَّلِینَ ٣١
Transliteration (2021)
wa-idhā tut'lā ʿalayhim āyātunā qālū qad samiʿ'nā law nashāu laqul'nā mith'la hādhā in hādhā illā asāṭīru l-awalīn