Hikma › Qur'an › Surah An-Najm › Verse 32

Surah An-Najm — 53:32

ٱلَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَـٰٓئِرَ ٱلْإِثْمِ وَٱلْفَوَٰحِشَ إِلَّا ٱللَّمَمَ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ وَٰسِعُ ٱلْمَغْفِرَةِ ۚ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ وَإِذْ أَنتُمْ أَجِنَّةٌ فِى بُطُونِ أُمَّهَـٰتِكُمْ ۖ فَلَا تُزَكُّوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ ۖ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ ٱتَّقَىٰٓ

Allazeena yajtaniboona kabaaa'iral ismi walfawaa hisha illal lamam; inna rabbaka waasi'ul maghfirah; huwa a'lamu bikum iz ansha akum minal ardi wa iz antum ajinnatun fee butooni umma haatikum falaa tuzakkooo anfusakum huwa a'lamu bimanit taqaa

جو صغیرہ گناہوں کے سوا بڑے بڑے گناہوں اور بےحیائی کی باتوں سے اجتناب کرتے ہیں۔ بےشک تمہارا پروردگار بڑی بخشش والا ہے۔ وہ تم کو خوب جانتا ہے۔ جب اس نے تم کو مٹی سے پیدا کیا اور جب تم اپنی ماؤں کے پیٹ میں بچّے تھے۔ تو اپنے آپ کو پاک صاف نہ جتاؤ۔ جو پرہیزگار ہے وہ اس سے خوب واقف ہے

Those who avoid the major sins and shameful deeds, save for slight lapses — indeed, your Lord is vast in forgiveness. He knows you best, from when he brought you forth from the earth and when you were hidden in the wombs of your mothers. So do not claim purity for yourselves; he knows best who is mindful of him.

Reflection

The verse sketches a category of people and then forbids anyone from placing himself inside it, so the praise is given and withdrawn from self-application in the same breath. Lamam, rendered here as slight lapses, is a word the tradition never settled: some read it as an impulse or a glance stopping short of the act, others as a sin committed once and not returned to. The grounds given are that God's knowledge of a person begins before the person does.

← 53:31 53:33 →

Read all of Surah An-Najm

Reflect on this verse with Hikma · Get the Hikma app