Popular Translations
Muhammad Asad
Their parable is that of people who kindle a fire: but as soon as it has illumined all around them, God takes away their light and leaves them in utter darkness, wherein they cannot see
Arthur John Arberry
The likeness of them is as the likeness of a man who kindled a fire, and when it lit all about him God took away their light, and left them in darkness unseein
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
Their similitude is that of a man who kindled a fire; when it lighted all around him, Allah took away their light and left them in utter darkness. So they could not see
Arabic
مَثَلُهُمۡ كَمَثَلِ ٱلَّذِی ٱسۡتَوۡقَدَ نَارࣰا فَلَمَّاۤ أَضَاۤءَتۡ مَا حَوۡلَهُۥ ذَهَبَ ٱللَّهُ بِنُورِهِمۡ وَتَرَكَهُمۡ فِی ظُلُمَـٰتࣲ لَّا یُبۡصِرُونَ ١٧
Transliteration (2021)
mathaluhum kamathali alladhī is'tawqada nāran falammā aḍāat mā ḥawlahu dhahaba l-lahu binūrihim watarakahum fī ẓulumātin lā yub'ṣirūn