Surah At-Takathur: Meaning, Translation and Transliteration

Surah At-Takathur describes a life spent competing for more (more money, more followers, a bigger house than the neighbours) until the competition ends at the graveyard. In eight verses it shows where that race leads, and it closes with a question everyone will be asked: what did you do with the blessings you were given?

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

The full surah

أَلۡهَىٰكُمُ ٱلتَّكَاثُرُ حَتَّىٰ زُرۡتُمُ ٱلۡمَقَابِرَ كـَلَّا سَوۡفَ تَعۡلَمُونَ ثُمَّ كـَلَّا سَوۡفَ تَعۡلَمُونَ كـَلَّا لَوۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ عِلۡمَ ٱلۡيَقِينِ لَتَرَوُنَّ ٱلۡجَحِيمَ ثُمَّ لَتَرَوُنَّهَا عَيۡنَ ٱلۡيَقِينِ ثُمَّ لَتُسۡـَٔلُنَّ يَوۡمَئِذٍ عَنِ ٱلنَّعِيمِ

Transliteration

1. Alhākumut-takāthur
2. Ḥattā zurtumul-maqābir
3. Kallā sawfa taʿlamūn
4. Thumma kallā sawfa taʿlamūn
5. Kallā law taʿlamūna ʿilmal-yaqīn
6. Latarawunnal-jaḥīm
7. Thumma latarawunnahā ʿaynal-yaqīn
8. Thumma latusʾalunna yawmaʾidhin ʿanin-naʿīm

English translation (Saheeh International)

Competition in [worldly] increase diverts you until you visit the graveyards. No! You are going to know. Then, no! You are going to know. No! If you only knew with knowledge of certainty... You will surely see the Hellfire. Then you will surely see it with the eye of certainty. Then you will surely be asked that Day about pleasure. (102:1-8)

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

اَلۡهٰٮكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُۙ حَتّٰى زُرۡتُمُ الۡمَقَابِرَؕ كَلَّا سَوۡفَ تَعۡلَمُوۡنَۙ ثُمَّ كَلَّا سَوۡفَ تَعۡلَمُوۡنَؕ كَلَّا لَوۡ تَعۡلَمُوۡنَ عِلۡمَ الۡيَقِيۡنِؕ لَتَرَوُنَّ الۡجَحِيۡمَۙ ثُمَّ لَتَرَوُنَّهَا عَيۡنَ الۡيَقِيۡنِۙ ثُمَّ لَـتُسۡـَٔـلُنَّ يَوۡمَٮِٕذٍ عَنِ النَّعِيۡمِ

You can read and listen to Surah At-Takathur with its translation, or read it with the Urdu translation.

About the surah

At-Takathur is the 102nd surah of the Quran, with 8 verses, in the 30th juz. Its name is from the first verse: at-takāthur, competing with one another in having more. Most scholars count it as Meccan.

Verses 1-2: Distracted until the grave

أَلۡهَىٰكُمُ ٱلتَّكَاثُرُ حَتَّىٰ زُرۡتُمُ ٱلۡمَقَابِرَ

Competition in [worldly] increase diverts you until you visit the graveyards. (102:1-2)

Alhākum: it has distracted you, kept you busy from what matters. At-takāthur is not just having more, but competing to have more than others: wealth, children, followers, status. The commentators mentioned two tribes who boasted about who had more men, and when they ran out of the living, went to count their dead in the graveyards.

"Until you visit the graveyards" means until you die. And notice the word visit: a visitor doesn't stay. The grave is a stop on the way to the Resurrection.

The Prophet ﷺ was once reciting this surah when he said: "The son of Adam says, My wealth, my wealth! But what do you have of your wealth, son of Adam, except what you ate and used up, what you wore and wore out, or what you gave in charity and sent ahead?" (Sahih Muslim 2958). He also said that three things follow a dead person to the grave, his family, his wealth and his deeds; two return, and only his deeds stay with him (Sahih al-Bukhari 6514).

Verses 3-7: You will know, and you will see

كـَلَّا سَوۡفَ تَعۡلَمُونَ ثُمَّ كـَلَّا سَوۡفَ تَعۡلَمُونَ كـَلَّا لَوۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ عِلۡمَ ٱلۡيَقِينِ لَتَرَوُنَّ ٱلۡجَحِيمَ ثُمَّ لَتَرَوُنَّهَا عَيۡنَ ٱلۡيَقِينِ

No! You are going to know. Then, no! You are going to know. No! If you only knew with knowledge of certainty... You will surely see the Hellfire. Then you will surely see it with the eye of certainty. (102:3-7)

Kallā, "No!", comes three times. Some commentators said the first "you will know" is at death and in the grave, and the second at the Resurrection.

The surah then names levels of certainty, which scholars have discussed ever since:

• ʿIlm al-yaqīn, "knowledge of certainty": knowing something for sure because you were told by someone you trust. Verse 5: if only you knew this way now, you wouldn't be distracted.
• ʿAyn al-yaqīn, "the eye of certainty": seeing it with your own eyes. Verse 7: you will see Hellfire.
• A third level, ḥaqq al-yaqīn, "the truth of certainty", experiencing it directly, is mentioned elsewhere in the Quran (56:95, 69:51).

The believer's task is to reach the first level about the Hereafter now, while it can still change how they live.

Verse 8: You will be asked about the blessings

ثُمَّ لَتُسۡـَٔلُنَّ يَوۡمَئِذٍ عَنِ ٱلنَّعِيمِ

Then you will surely be asked that Day about pleasure. (102:8)

An-naʿīm is every pleasure and blessing: food, water, health, safety, free time. One day the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr and ʿUmar went out of their houses because they were hungry. An Ansari man welcomed them with dates and slaughtered a sheep, and they ate their fill and drank. The Prophet ﷺ said: "By the One in whose hand is my soul, you will be asked about this blessing on the Day of Resurrection. Hunger brought you out of your homes, and you did not return until you had received this blessing" (Sahih Muslim 2038).

If a meal of dates and meat after real hunger will be asked about, so will everything else. The Prophet ﷺ said a person's feet will not move on that Day until he is asked about his life and how he spent it, his knowledge and what he did with it, his wealth and where he earned and spent it, and his body and how he used it (Jami' al-Tirmidhi 2417).

Word by word

Arabic	Transliteration	Meaning
أَلۡهَىٰكُمُ	alhākumu	Diverts you
ٱلتَّكَاثُرُ	l-takāthuru	the competition to increase
حَتَّىٰ	ḥattā	Until
زُرۡتُمُ	zur'tumu	you visit
ٱلۡمَقَابِرَ	l-maqābira	the graves
كـَلَّا	kallā	Nay
سَوۡفَ	sawfa	Soon
تَعۡلَمُونَ	taʿlamūna	you will know
ثُمَّ	thumma	Then
كـَلَّا	kallā	nay
سَوۡفَ	sawfa	Soon
تَعۡلَمُونَ	taʿlamūna	you will know
كـَلَّا	kallā	Nay
لَوۡ	law	If
تَعۡلَمُونَ	taʿlamūna	you know
عِلۡمَ	ʿil'ma	(with) a knowledge
ٱلۡيَقِينِ	l-yaqīni	(of) certainty
لَتَرَوُنَّ	latarawunna	Surely you will see
ٱلۡجَحِيمَ	l-jaḥīma	the Hellfire
ثُمَّ	thumma	Then
لَتَرَوُنَّهَا	latarawunnahā	surely you will see it
عَيۡنَ	ʿayna	(with the) eye
ٱلۡيَقِينِ	l-yaqīni	(of) certainty
ثُمَّ	thumma	Then
لَتُسۡـَٔلُنَّ	latus'alunna	surely you will be asked
يَوۡمَئِذٍ	yawma-idhin	that Day
عَنِ	ʿani	about
ٱلنَّعِيمِ	l-naʿīmi	the pleasures

Living by Surah At-Takathur

• Notice the comparison. When you want something because someone else has it, that is takāthur.
• Remember what's really yours. What you ate, what you wore, and what you gave away; only the last goes with you.
• Visit graves. The Prophet ﷺ encouraged it after once forbidding it (Sahih Muslim 977), because it reminds you of the Hereafter.
• Remember death often. "Remember often the destroyer of pleasures" (Jami' al-Tirmidhi 2307).
• Thank Allah for ordinary blessings. Cold water, a meal, a free afternoon: each will be asked about. Use them well.

Open Surah At-Takathur to read and listen to it with its translation.