Surah Ibrahim >> Currently viewing Surah Ibrahim Ayat 18 (14:18)

Surah Ibrahim Ayat 18 in Arabic Text

مَّثَلُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بِرَبِّهِمۡۖ أَعۡمَٰلُهُمۡ كَرَمَادٍ ٱشۡتَدَّتۡ بِهِ ٱلرِّيحُ فِي يَوۡمٍ عَاصِفٖۖ لَّا يَقۡدِرُونَ مِمَّا كَسَبُواْ عَلَىٰ شَيۡءٖۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلضَّلَٰلُ ٱلۡبَعِيدُ
Masalul lazeena kafaroo bi Rabbihim; a’maaluhum karamaadinish taddat bihir reehu fee yawmin ‘aasifin; laa yaqdiroona mimmaa kasaboo ‘alaa shai’; zaalika huwad dalaalul ba’eed

English Translation

Here you can read various translations of verse 18

Sahih International
The example of those who disbelieve in their Lord is [that] their deeds are like ashes which the wind blows forcefully on a stormy day; they are unable [to keep] from what they earned a [single] thing. That is what is extreme error.

Yusuf Ali
The parable of those who reject their Lord is that their works are as ashes, on which the wind blows furiously on a tempestuous day: No power have they over aught that they have earned: that is the straying far, far (from the goal).

Abul Ala Maududi
This is the example of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their works are like ashes upon which the wind blows fiercely on a tempestuous day. They shall find no reward for their deeds. That indeed is the farthest point in straying.

Muhsin Khan
The parable of those who disbelieve in their Lord is that their works are as ashes, on which the wind blows furiously on a stormy day, they shall not be able to get aught of what they have earned. That is the straying, far away (from the Right Path).

Pickthall
A similitude of those who disbelieve in their Lord: Their works are as ashes which the wind bloweth hard upon a stormy day. They have no control of aught that they have earned. That is the extreme failure.

Dr. Ghali
(Such) is the likeness of the ones who have disbelieved in their Lord: their deeds are like ashes on which the wind blows severely upon a tempestuous day; they are unable (to do) anything with whatever they have earned. That is the far error itself.

Abdel Haleem
The deeds of those who reject their Lord are like ashes that the wind blows furiously on a stormy day: they have no power over anything they have gained. This is to stray far, far away.

Muhammad Junagarhi
ان لوگوں کی مثال جنہوں نے اپنے پالنے والے سے کفر کیا، ان کے اعمال مثل اس راکھ کے ہیں جس پر تیز ہوا آندھی والے دن چلے۔ جو بھی انہوں نے کیا اس میں سے کسی چیز پر قادر نہ ہوں گے، یہی دور کی گمراہی ہے

Quran 14 Verse 18 Explanation

For those looking for commentary to help with the understanding of Surah Ibrahim ayat 18, we’ve provided two Tafseer works below. The first is the tafseer of Abul Ala Maududi, the second is of Ibn Kathir.

Ala-Maududi

(14:18) This is the example of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their works are like ashes upon which the wind blows fiercely on a tempestuous day. They shall find no reward for their deeds.[25] That indeed is the farthest point in straying.


25. That is, those who were perfidious, faithless, and disobedient to the divine message, and refused to adopt that way to which the Messengers invited, will find in the end that all the deeds and earnings of their lives were as worthless as a heap of ashes. Just as each and every particle of a high mound of ashes formed during a long course of years is scattered by the wind on a stormy day, likewise all their grand works will prove on the stormy doomsday to be no more than a mound of ashes. Their dazzling culture, their grand civilization, their wonderful kingdoms and states, their magnificent universities, their sciences and their literatures, nay, even their hypocritical worship, and so called virtuous deeds, their charitable and reformative works of which they were very proud in the worldly life, shall prove to be as worthless as a heap of ashes, and will be scattered by the storm of the Day of Resurrection. So much so that there shall not remain a single particle of their works worthy of being placed in the divine scale on that Day in their favor.

Ibn-Kathir

18. The parable of those who disbelieved in their Lord is that their works are as ashes, on which the wind blows furiously on a stormy day; they shall not be able to get aught of what they have earned. That is the straying, far away (from the right path).


A Parable for the Deeds of the Disbelievers

This is a parable that Allah has given for the deeds and actions of the disbelievers who worshipped others besides Him and rejected His Messengers, thus building their acts on groundless basis. Their actions vanished from them when they were most in need of their rewards. Allah said,

﴿مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بِرَبِّهِمْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ﴾

(The parable of those who disbelieved in their Lord is that their works) on the Day of Judgment, when they will seek their rewards from Allah the Exalted. They used to think that they had something, but they will find nothing, except what remains of ashes when a strong wind blows on it,

﴿فِي يَوْمٍ عَاصِفٍ﴾

(on a stormy day;) They will not earn rewards for any of the good works they performed during this life, except what they can preserve of ashes during a day of strong wind. Allah said in other Ayat,

﴿وَقَدِمْنَآ إِلَى مَا عَمِلُواْ مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَجَعَلْنَاهُ هَبَآءً مَّنثُوراً ﴾

(And We shall turn to whatever deeds they did, and We shall make such deeds as scattered floating particles of dust.)﴿25:23﴾,

﴿مَثَلُ مَا يُنْفِقُونَ فِى هِـذِهِ الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَثَلِ رِيحٍ فِيهَا صِرٌّ أَصَابَتْ حَرْثَ قَوْمٍ ظَلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ فَأَهْلَكَتْهُ وَمَا ظَلَمَهُمُ اللَّهُ وَلَـكِنْ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ ﴾

(The parable of what they spend in this world is that of a wind which is extremely cold; it struck the harvest of a people who did wrong against themselves and destroyed it. Allah wronged them not, but they wronged themselves.)﴿3:117﴾,and,

﴿يأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لاَ تُبْطِلُواْ صَدَقَـتِكُم بِالْمَنِّ وَالاٌّذَى كَالَّذِى يُنفِقُ مَالَهُ رِئَآءَ النَّاسِ وَلاَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الاٌّخِرِ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ صَفْوَانٍ عَلَيْهِ تُرَابٌ فَأَصَابَهُ وَابِلٌ فَتَرَكَهُ صَلْدًا لاَّ يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَى شَىْءٍ مِّمَّا كَسَبُواْ وَاللَّهُ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَـفِرِينَ ﴾

(O you who believe! Do not render in vain your Sadaqah (charity) by reminders of your generosity or by injury, like him who spends his wealth to be seen of men, and he does not believe in Allah, nor in the Last Day. His parable is that of a smooth rock on which is a little dust; on it falls heavy rain which leaves it bare. They are not able to do anything with what they have earned. And Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.)﴿2:264﴾ Allah said in this Ayah,

﴿ذلِكَ هُوَ الضَّلاَلُ الْبَعِيدُ﴾

(That is the straying, far away from the right path) meaning, their work and deeds were not based on firm, correct grounds, and thus, they lost their rewards when they needed them the most,

﴿ذلِكَ هُوَ الضَّلاَلُ الْبَعِيدُ﴾

(That is the straying, far away from the right path.)

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