لَهُۥ مُعَقِّبَـٰتٌ مِّنۢ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِۦ يَحْفَظُونَهُۥ مِنْ أَمْرِ ٱللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا۟ مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ ۗ وَإِذَآ أَرَادَ ٱللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُوٓءًا فَلَا مَرَدَّ لَهُۥ ۚ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن دُونِهِۦ مِن وَالٍ
Lahoo mu'aqqibaatum mim baini yadaihi wa min khalfihee yahfazoonahoo min amril laah; innal laaha laa yughaiyiru maa biqawmin hattaa yughaiyiroo maa bianfusihim; wa izaaa araadal laahu biqawmin sooo'an falaa maradda lah; wa maa lahum min dooniheeminw waal
Ardında ve önünde insanoğlunu takip edenler vardır; Allah'ın emriyle onu gözetirler. Bir millet kendini bozmadıkça Allah onların durumunu değiştirmez. Allah bir milletin fenalığını dileyince artık onun önüne geçilmez. Onlar için Allah'tan başka hamide bulunmaz.
For each person there are successive angels, before him and behind him, guarding him by the command of God. Indeed, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves. And when God wills harm for a people, there is no turning it back, and they have no protector besides him.
Mu'aqqibat names those who follow one after another in succession, and the phrase min amri-llah has been read two ways: as guarding by God's command, and as guarding from what he has decreed. The famous middle clause takes a people as its subject, which puts its natural scale at a community's shared condition rather than one private life. The change it describes runs in both directions, as the rest of the verse makes clear.