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
اس کے آگے اور پیچھے خدا کے چوکیدار ہیں جو خدا کے حکم سے اس کی حفاظت کرتے ہیں۔ خدا اس (نعمت) کو جو کسی قوم کو (حاصل) ہے نہیں بدلتا جب تک کہ وہ اپنی حالت کو نہ بدلے۔ اور جب خدا کسی قوم کے ساتھ برائی کا ارادہ کرتا ہے تو پھر وہ پھر نہیں سکتی۔ اور خدا کے سوا ان کا کوئی مددگار نہیں ہوتا
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.