Meaning: evil · Also translated as: it grieves them, it may distress you, it distresses them, he was distressed
Forms in the Quran
سَآءَ×11
فَسَآءَ×4
وَسَآءَتْ×4
وَسَآءَ×3
تَسُؤْهُمْ×2
سِىٓءَ×2
تَسُؤْكُمْ×1
لِيَسُۥٓـُٔوا۟×1
Its root in the classical dictionaries
السوء: كل ما يغم الإنسان من الأمور الدنيوية، والأخروية، ومن الأحوال النفسية، والبدنية، والخارجة، من فوات مال، وجاه، وفقد حميم، وقوله: بيضاء من غير سوء
فأما السين والواو والهمزة فليست من ذلك، إنما هي من باب القبح. تقول رجل أسوأ، أي قبيح، وامرأة سوآء، أي قبيحة. قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم: «سوآء ولود خير من حسناء عقيم». ولذلك سميت السيئة سيئة. وسميت النار سوأى، لقبح منظرها. قال الله تعالى: ﴿ثم كان عاقبة الذين أساءوا السوءى﴾ [الروم: 10]. وقال أبو زبيد:
If aught that is good
Befalls you, it grieves them;
But if some misfortune
Overtakes you, they rejoice
At it. But if ye are constant
And do right,
Not the least harm
Will their cunning
Do to you; for God
Compasseth round about
All that they do.
Not those who spend
Of their substance, to be seen
Of men, but have no faith
In God and the Last Day:
If any take the Evil One
For their intimate,
What a dreadful intimate he is!
When angels take
The souls of those
Who die in sin
Against their souls,
They say: "In what (plight)
Were ye?" They reply:
"Weak and oppressed
Were we in the earth."
They say: "Was not
The earth of God
Spacious enough for you
To move yourselves away
(From evil)?" Such men
Will find their abode
In Hell,—What an evil
Refuge!—
If anyone contends with
The Apostle even after
Guidance has been plainly
Conveyed to him, and follows
A path other than that
Becoming to men of Faith,
We shall leave him
In the path he has chosen,
And land him in Hell,—
What an evil refuge!
If only they had stood fast
By the Law, the Gospel,
And all the revelation that was sent
To them from their Lord,
They would have enjoyed
Happiness from every side.'
There is from among them
A party on the right course:
But many of them
Follow a course that is evil.
O ye who believe!
Ask not questions
About things which,
If made plain to you,
May cause you trouble.
But if ye ask about things
When the Qur-ān is being
Revealed, they will be
Made plain to you,
God will forgive those:
For God is Oft-forgiving,
Most Forbearing.
Lost indeed are they
Who treat it as a falsehood
That they must meet God,
Until on a sudden
The hour is on them,
And they say: "Ah! woe
Unto us that we took
No thought of it";
For they bear their burdens
On their backs,
And evil indeed are
The burdens that they bear?
Out of what God
Hath produced in abundance
In tilth and in cattle,
They assigned Him a share:
They say, according to their fancies:
"This is for God, and this"—
For Our "partners"!
But the share of their "partners"
Reacheth not God, whilst
The share of God reacheth
Their "partners"! Evil
(And unjust) is their assignment!
If good befalls thee,
It grieves them; but if
A misfortune befalls thee,
They say, "We took indeed
Our precautions beforehand,"
And they turn away rejoicing.
Let them bear, on the Day
Of Judgment, their own burdens
In full, and also (something)
Of the burdens of those
Without knowledge, whom they
Misled. Alas, how grievous
The burdens they will bear!
With shame does he hide
Himself from his people,
Because of the bad news
He has had!
Shall he retain it
On (sufferance and) contempt,
Or bury it in the dust?
Ah! what an evil (choice)
They decide on?
If ye did well,
Ye did well for yourselves;
If ye did evil,
(Ye did it) against yourselves?
So when the second
Of the warnings came to pass,
(We permitted your enemies)
To disfigure your faces,
And to enter your Temple
As they had entered it before,
And to visit with destruction
All that fell into their power.
Say, "The Truth is
From your Lord":
Let him who will,
Believe, and let him
Who will, reject (it):
For the wrong-doers We
Have prepared a Fire
Whose (smoke and flames),
Like the walls and roof
Of a tent, will hem
Them in: if they implore
Relief they will be granted
Water like melted brass,
That will scald their faces.
How dreadful the drink!
How uncomfortable a couch
To recline on!