ٱلْكَهْف : ٤٥

  • وَٱضۡرِبۡ And present
  • لَهُم to them
  • مَّثَلَ the example
  • ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ (of) the life
  • ٱلدُّنۡيَا (of) the world
  • كَمَآءٍ like water
  • أَنزَلۡنَٰهُ which We send down
  • مِنَ from
  • ٱلسَّمَآءِ the sky
  • فَٱخۡتَلَطَ then mingles
  • بِهِۦ with it
  • نَبَاتُ (the) vegetation
  • ٱلۡأَرۡضِ (of) the earth
  • فَأَصۡبَحَ then becomes
  • هَشِيمٗا dry stalks
  • تَذۡرُوهُ it (is) scattered
  • ٱلرِّيَٰحُۗ (by) the winds
  • وَكَانَ And Allah
  • ٱللَّهُ And Allah
  • عَلَىٰ over
  • كُلِّ every
  • شَيۡءٖ thing
  • مُّقۡتَدِرًا (is) All Able
And present to them the example of the life of this world, [its being] like rain which We send down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it1 and [then] it becomes dry remnants, scattered by the winds. And Allāh is ever, over all things, Perfect in Ability.
Footnotes
1 - Absorbs it, growing lush and thick.
And strike, draw, for them, your people, the similitude of the life of this world (mathala'l-hayaati'l-dunyaa constitutes the first direct object) as water (ka-maa'in, the second direct object) which We send down out from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it, [the vegetation] multiplies by the sending down of the water; or it is that the water mixes with the vegetation such that it is nourished and flourishes; and it then becomes, the vegetation becomes, chaff, dried up, its [various] parts [broken up] in fragments, scattered, strewn and dispersed, by the winds, which then blow it away. The import is: [the life of] this world is likened to flourishing vegetation which then becomes dry, is broken up and scattered by the winds (a variant reading [for riyaah, 'winds'] has reeh). And God is Omnipotent, Powerful, over all things.