ٱلنُّور : ٣٩

  • وَٱلَّذِينَ But those who
  • كَفَرُوٓاْ disbelieve
  • أَعۡمَٰلُهُمۡ their deeds
  • كَسَرَابِ (are) like a mirage
  • بِقِيعَةٖ in a lowland
  • يَحۡسَبُهُ thinks it
  • ٱلظَّمۡـَٔانُ the thirsty one
  • مَآءً (to be) water
  • حَتَّىٰٓ until
  • إِذَا when
  • جَآءَهُۥ he comes to it
  • لَمۡ not
  • يَجِدۡهُ he finds it
  • شَيۡـٔٗا (to be) anything
  • وَوَجَدَ but he finds
  • ٱللَّهَ Allah
  • عِندَهُۥ before him
  • فَوَفَّىٰهُ He will pay him in full
  • حِسَابَهُۥۗ his due
  • وَٱللَّهُ And Allah
  • سَرِيعُ (is) swift
  • ٱلۡحِسَابِ (in) the account
But those who disbelieved - their deeds are like a mirage in a lowland which a thirsty one thinks is water until, when he comes to it, he finds it is nothing but finds Allāh before him, and He will pay him in full his due; and Allāh is swift in account.
And as for those who disbelieve, their works are like a mirage in a plain (qee'a is the plural of qaa', that is to say, fulaat, 'an open space'). [A mirage is] a kind of radiation which one might observe therein at midday during extreme heat, resembling running water - which the thirsty man supposes to be water until he comes to it and finds it to be nothing, like what he had supposed. Likewise is [the case of] the disbeliever who supposes that his deeds, such as some voluntary alms, will benefit him; but when he dies and comes before his Lord he will not find his deed, in other words, it will be of no benefit to him; and he finds God there, namely, in the place of his deeds, Who pays him his account in full, that is, He requites him for it in this world; and God is swift at reckoning, that is, at requiting.