Surah Al-Ma'un: Meaning, Translation and Transliteration

Surah Al-Ma'un asks a question: what does it look like when someone doesn't really believe in the Day of Judgement? Its answer isn't about words or theology. It is about how a person treats an orphan, whether they care that the poor are fed, how they pray, and whether they will lend a neighbour a cooking pot.

This article gives the full surah in Arabic, a transliteration and the English translation, then explains it verse by verse.

The full surah

أَرَءَيۡتَ ٱلَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِٱلدِّينِ فَذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِي يَدُعُّ ٱلۡيَتِيمَ وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ ٱلۡمِسۡكِينِ فَوَيۡلٞ لِّلۡمُصَلِّينَ ٱلَّذِينَ هُمۡ عَن صَلَاتِهِمۡ سَاهُونَ ٱلَّذِينَ هُمۡ يُرَآءُونَ وَيَمۡنَعُونَ ٱلۡمَاعُونَ

Transliteration

1. Araʾaytal-ladhī yukadhdhibu bid-dīn
2. Fa-dhālikal-ladhī yaduʿʿul-yatīm
3. Wa lā yaḥuḍḍu ʿalā ṭaʿāmil-miskīn
4. Fa-waylul-lil-muṣallīn
5. Alladhīna hum ʿan ṣalātihim sāhūn
6. Alladhīna hum yurāʾūn
7. Wa yamnaʿūnal-māʿūn

English translation (Saheeh International)

Have you seen the one who denies the Recompense? For that is the one who drives away the orphan and does not encourage the feeding of the poor. So woe to those who pray [But] who are heedless of their prayer - those who make show [of their deeds] and withhold [simple] assistance. (107:1-7)

If you learned to read the Quran in the IndoPak script, here is the same surah as it appears in a South Asian mushaf:

اَرَءَيۡتَ الَّذِىۡ يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّيۡنِؕ فَذٰلِكَ الَّذِىۡ يَدُعُّ الۡيَتِيۡمَۙ وَ لَا يَحُضُّ عَلٰى طَعَامِ الۡمِسۡكِيۡنِؕ فَوَيۡلٌ لِّلۡمُصَلِّيۡنَۙ الَّذِيۡنَ هُمۡ عَنۡ صَلَاتِهِمۡ سَاهُوۡنَۙ الَّذِيۡنَ هُمۡ يُرَآءُوۡنَۙ وَيَمۡنَعُوۡنَ الۡمَاعُوۡنَ

You can read and listen to Surah Al-Ma'un with its translation, or read it with the Urdu translation.

About the surah

Al-Ma'un is the 107th surah of the Quran, with 7 verses, in the 30th juz. Its name is its last word, al-māʿūn: small acts of help, everyday items that neighbours lend each other. It is also called Araʾayta after its first word.

Scholars differ over whether it is Meccan or Medinan. Some said the first three verses were revealed in Makkah, about a leader of Quraysh, and the last four in Madinah, about the hypocrites who prayed with the Muslims but only for show.

Verses 1-3: The one who denies the Recompense

أَرَءَيۡتَ ٱلَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِٱلدِّينِ فَذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِي يَدُعُّ ٱلۡيَتِيمَ وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ ٱلۡمِسۡكِينِ

Have you seen the one who denies the Recompense? For that is the one who drives away the orphan and does not encourage the feeding of the poor. (107:1-3)

Ad-dīn here is the Recompense, the Day of Judgement. How do you recognise someone who denies it? Not by what they say, but by two things they do:

• They push the orphan away. Yaduʿʿu is to shove someone away roughly: refusing an orphan their rights, or their share, or simple kindness.
• They don't urge others to feed the poor. Not only do they not feed them; they don't even encourage anyone else to.

Someone who truly believed that every deed will be weighed could not treat the weakest people like this. The Prophet ﷺ said: "I and the one who looks after an orphan will be like this in Paradise," holding up two fingers together (Sahih al-Bukhari 5304).

Verses 4-7: Woe to those who pray

فَوَيۡلٞ لِّلۡمُصَلِّينَ ٱلَّذِينَ هُمۡ عَن صَلَاتِهِمۡ سَاهُونَ ٱلَّذِينَ هُمۡ يُرَآءُونَ وَيَمۡنَعُونَ ٱلۡمَاعُونَ

So woe to those who pray [But] who are heedless of their prayer - those who make show [of their deeds] and withhold [simple] assistance. (107:4-7)

This is a startling turn: woe to those who pray. But it is a particular kind of person who prays. The surah describes them:

Heedless of their prayer. The scholars noticed it says ʿan ṣalātihim, "heedless of their prayer", not fī ṣalātihim, "in their prayer". Everyone's mind wanders sometimes during prayer, and that is not what is condemned. What is condemned is not caring about the prayer itself: delaying it until its time has gone, skipping it, or rushing through it. Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas is reported to have explained it as delaying the prayer past its time. The Prophet ﷺ described the hypocrite's prayer: he sits watching the sun until it is about to set, then gets up and pecks four quick rakʿahs, remembering Allah in them only a little (Sahih Muslim 622).

Showing off. Yurāʾūn, they do things to be seen. Their prayer and good deeds are for people, not for Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said that Allah says: "I am the One who most has no need of partners. Whoever does a deed in which he associates someone else with Me, I leave him and his partnership" (Sahih Muslim 2985).

Withholding al-māʿūn. Ibn Masʿud said: "In the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, we counted al-māʿūn as lending a bucket and a cooking pot" (Sunan Abi Dawud 1657). Others said it is zakat. Either way, the point is how small it is. Someone whose prayer doesn't make them willing to lend a pot has missed what prayer is for.

Word by word

Arabic	Transliteration	Meaning
أَرَءَيۡتَ	ara-ayta	Have you seen
ٱلَّذِي	alladhī	the one who
يُكَذِّبُ	yukadhibu	denies
بِٱلدِّينِ	bil-dīni	the Judgment
فَذَٰلِكَ	fadhālika	Then that
ٱلَّذِي	alladhī	(is) the one who
يَدُعُّ	yaduʿʿu	repulses
ٱلۡيَتِيمَ	l-yatīma	the orphan
وَلَا	walā	And (does) not
يَحُضُّ	yaḥuḍḍu	feel the urge
عَلَىٰ	ʿalā	to
طَعَامِ	ṭaʿāmi	feed
ٱلۡمِسۡكِينِ	l-mis'kīni	the poor
فَوَيۡلٞ	fawaylun	So woe
لِّلۡمُصَلِّينَ	lil'muṣallīna	to those who pray
ٱلَّذِينَ	alladhīna	Those who
هُمۡ	hum	[they]
عَن	ʿan	about
صَلَاتِهِمۡ	ṣalātihim	their prayers
سَاهُونَ	sāhūna	(are) neglectful
ٱلَّذِينَ	alladhīna	Those who
هُمۡ	hum	[they]
يُرَآءُونَ	yurāūna	make show
وَيَمۡنَعُونَ	wayamnaʿūna	And they deny
ٱلۡمَاعُونَ	l-māʿūna	[the] small kindnesses

Living by Surah Al-Ma'un

• Let your faith show in how you treat the weak. Orphans, the poor, anyone with no one to stand up for them.
• Encourage feeding the hungry. If you can't give, point others to give: a food bank, a charity, a neighbour in need.
• Pray on time. Not perfectly, but with care for the prayer itself.
• Check your intentions. Do good deeds as if no one could see them.
• Lend the small things. A ladder, a charger, a lift to the mosque. Small kindnesses are part of the religion.

Open Surah Al-Ma'un to read and listen to it with its translation.