Juz 30

ABOUT WHAT do they [most often] ask one another?

About the awesome tiding [of resurrection],

on which they [so utterly] disagree.

Nay, but in time they will come to understand [it]!

And once again: Nay, but in time they will come to understand!

HAVE WE NOT made the earth a resting-place [for you],

and the mountains [its] pegs?

And We have created you in pairs;

and We have made your sleep [a symbol of] death

and made the night [its] cloak

and made the day [a symbol of] life.

And We have built above you seven firmaments,

and have placed [therein the sun,] a lamp full of blazing splendour.

And from the wind-driven clouds We send down waters pouring in abundance,

so that We might bring forth thereby grain, and herbs,

and gardens dense with follage.

VERILY, the Day of Distinction [between the true and the false] has indeed its appointed time:

the Day when the trumpet [of resurrection] is sounded and you all come forward in multitudes;

and when the skies are opened and become [as wide-flung] gates;

and when the mountains are made to vanish as if they had been a mirage.

[On that Day,] verily, hell will lie in wait [for those who deny the truth] –

a goal for all who are wont to transgress the bounds of what is right!

In it shall they remain for a long time.

Neither coolness shall they taste therein nor any [thirst-quenching] drink –

only burning despair and ice-cold darkness:

a meet requital [for their sins]!

Behold, they were not expecting to be called to account,

having given the lie to Our messages one and all:

but We have placed on record every single thing [of what they did].

[And so We shall say:] "Taste, then, [the fruit of your evil doings,] for now We shall bestow on you nothing but more and more suffering!"

[But,] verily for the God-conscious there is supreme fulfilment in store:

luxuriant gardens and vinyards,

and splendid companions well matched,

and a cup [of happiness] overflowing.

No empty talk will they hear in that [paradise], nor any lie.

[All this will be] a reward from thy Sustainer, a gift in accordance with [His Own] reckoning –

[a reward from] the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, the Most Gracious! [And] none shall have it in their power to raise their voices unto Him

on the Day when all [human] souls and all the angels will stand up in ranks: none will speak but he to whom the Most Gracious will have given leave; and [everyone] will say [only] what is right.

That will be the Day of Ultimate Truth: whoever wills, then, let him take the path that leads towards his Sustainer!

Verily, We have warned you of suffering near at hand - [suffering] on the Day when man shall [clearly] see what his hands have sent ahead, and when he who has denied the truth shall say, "Oh, would that I were mere dust...!"

CONSIDER those [stars] that rise only to set,

and move [in their orbits] with steady motion,

and float [through space] with floating serene,

and yet overtake [one another] with swift overtaking:

and thus they fulfil the [Creator's] behest!

[HENCE, think of] the Day when a violent convulsion will convulse [the world],

to be followed by further [convulsions]!

On that Day will [men's] hearts be throbbing,

[and] their eyes downcast...

[And yet,] some say, "What! Are we indeed to be restored to our former state –

even though we may have become [a heap of] crumbling bones?"

[And] they add, "That, then, would be a return with loss!"

[But,] then, that [Last Hour] will be [upon them of a sudden, as if it were] but a single accusing cry -

and then, lo, they will be fully awakened [to the truth]!

HAS THE STORY of Moses ever come within thy ken.

Lo! His Sustainer called out to him in the twice-hallowed valley:

"Go unto Pharaoh - for, verily, he has transgressed all bounds of what is right -

and say [unto him], 'Art thou desirous of attaining to purity?

[If so,] then I shall guide thee towards [a cognition of] thy Sustainer, so that [henceforth] thou wilt stand in awe [of Him].’"

And thereupon he [went to Pharaoh and] made him aware of the great wonder [of God's grace].

But [Pharaoh] gave him the lie and rebelliously rejected [all guidance],

and brusquely turned his back [on Moses];

and then he gathered [his great ones], and called [unto his people],

and said, "I am your Lord All-Highest!"

And thereupon God took him to task, [and made him] a warning example in the life to come as well as in this world.

In this, behold, there is a lesson indeed for all who stand in awe [of God].

[O MEN!] Are you more difficult to create than the heaven which He has built?

High has He reared its vault and formed it in accordance with what it was meant to be;

and He has made dark its night and brought forth its light of day.

And after that, the earth: wide has He spread its expanse,

and has caused its waters to come out of it, and its pastures,

and has made the mountains firm:

[all this] as a means of livelihood for you and your animals.

AND SO, when the great overwhelming event [of, resurrection] comes to pass –

on that Day man will [clearly] remember all that he has ever wrought;

and the blazing fire [of hell] will be lad open before all who [are destined to] see it.

For, unto him who shall have transgressed the bounds of what is right,

and preferred the life of this world [to the good of his soul],

that blazing fire will truly be the goal!

But unto him who shall have stood in fear of his Sustainer's Presence, and held back his inner self from base desires,

paradise will truly be the goal!

THEY WILL ASK thee [O Prophet] about the Last Hour: "When will it come to pass?"

[But] how couldst thou tell anything about it,

[seeing that] with thy Sustainer alone rests the beginning and the end [of all knowledge] thereof?

Thou art but [sent] to warn those who stand in awe of it.

On the Day when they behold it, [it will seem to them] as if they had tarried [in this world] no longer than one evening or [one night, ending with] its morn!

HE FROWNED and turned away

because the blind man approached him!

Yet for all thou didst know, [O Muhammad,] he might perhaps have grown in purity,

or have been reminded [of the truth], and helped by this reminder.

Now as for him who believes himself to be self-sufficient

to him didst thou give thy whole attention,

although thou art not accountable for his failure to attain to purity;

but as for him who came unto thee full of eagerness

and in awe [of God]

him didst thou disregard!

NAY, VERILY, these [messages] are but a reminder:

and so, whoever is willing may remember Him

in [the light of His] revelations blest with dignity,

lofty and pure,

[borne] by the hands of messengers

noble and most virtuous.

[But only too often] man destroys himself: how stubbornly does he deny the truth!

[Does man ever consider] out of what substance [God] creates him?

Out of a drop of sperm He creates him, and thereupon determines his nature,

and then makes it easy for him to go through life;

and in the end He causes him to die and brings him to the grave;

and then, if it be His will, He shall raise him again to life,

Nay, but [man] has never yet fulfilled what He has enjoined upon him!

Let man, then, consider [the sources of] his food:

[how it is] that We pour down water, pouring it down abundantly;

and then We cleave the earth [with new growth], cleaving it asunder,

and thereupon We cause grain to grow out of it,

and vines and edible plants,

and olive trees and date-palms,

and gardens dense with foliage,

and fruits and herbage,

for you and for your animals to enjoy.

AND SO, when the piercing call [of resurrection] is heard

on a Day when everyone will [want to] flee from his brother,

and from his mother and father,

and from his spouse and his children:

on that Day, to every one of them will his own state be of sufficient concern.

Some faces will on that Day be bright with happiness,

laughing, rejoicing at glad tidings.

And some faces will on that Day with dust be covered,

with darkness overspread:

these, these will be the ones who denied the truth and were immersed in iniquity!

WHEN THE SUN is shrouded in darkness,

and when the stars lose their light,

and when the mountains are made to vanish,

and when she-camels big with young, about to give birth, are left untended,

and when all beasts are gathered together,

and when the seas boil over,

and when all human beings are coupled [with their deeds],

and when the girl-child that was buried alive is made to ask

for what crime she had been slain,

and when the scrolls [of men's deeds] are unfolded,

and when heaven is laid bare,

and when the blazing fire [of hell] is kindled bright,

and when paradise is brought into view:

[on that Day] every human being will come to know what he has prepared [for himself].

BUT NAY! I call to witness the revolving stars,

the planets that run their course and set,

and the night as it darkly falls,

and the morn as it softly breathes:

behold, this [divine writ] is indeed the [inspired] word of a noble apostle,

with strength endowed, secure with Him who in almightiness is enthroned

[the word] of one to be heeded, and worthy of trust!

For, this fellow-man of yours is not a madman:

he truly beheld [the angel - beheld] him on the clear horizon;

and he is not one to begrudge others the knowledge [of whatever has been revealed to him] out of that which is beyond the reach of human Perception.

Nor is this [message] the word of any satanic force accursed.

Whither, then, will you go?

This [message] is no less than a reminder to all mankind –

to everyone of you who wills to walk a straight way.

But you cannot will it unless God, the Sustainer of all the worlds, wills [to show you that way].

WHEN THE SKY is cleft asunder,

and when the stars are scattered,

and when the seas burst beyond their bounds,

and when the graves are overturned –

every human being will [at last] comprehend, what he has sent ahead and what he has held back [in this world].

O MAN! What is it that lures thee away from thy bountiful Sustainer,

who has created thee, and formed thee in accordance with what thou art meant' to be, and shaped thy nature in just proportions,

having put thee together in whatever form He willed [thee to have]?

Nay, [O men,] but you [are lured away from God whenever you are tempted to] give the lie to [God’s] Judgment!

And yet, verily, there are ever-watchful forces over you,

noble, recording,

aware of whatever you do!

Behold, [in the life to come] the truly virtuous: will indeed be in bliss,

whereas, behold, the wicked will indeed be in a blazing fire –

[a fire] which they shall enter on Judgment Day,

and which they shall not [be able to] evade.

And what could make thee conceive what that Judgment Day will be?

And once again: What could make thee conceive what that Judgment Day will be?

[It will be] a Day when no human being shall be of the least avail to another human being: for on that Day [it will become manifest that] all sovereignty is God's alone.

WOE UNTO THOSE who give short measure:

those who, when they are to receive their due from [other] people, demand that it be given in full –

but when they have to measure or weigh whatever they owe to others, give less than what is due!

Do they not know that they are bound to be raised from the dead

[and called to account] on an awesome Day –

the Day when all men shall stand before the Sustainer of all the worlds?

NAY, VERILY, the record of the wicked is indeed [set down] in a mode inescapable!

And what could make thee conceive what that that mode inescapable will be?

A record [indelibly] inscribed!

Woe on that Day unto those who give the lie to the truth –

those who give the lie to the [coming of] Judgment Day:

for, none gives the lie to it but such as are wont to transgress against all that is [and are] immersed in sin:

[and so,] whenever Our messages are conveyed to them, they but say, "Fables of ancient times!"

Nay, but their hearts are corroded by all [the evil] that they were wont to do!

Nay, verily, from [the grace of] their Sustainer shall they on that Day be debarred;

and then, behold, they shall enter the blazing fire

and be told: "This is the [very thing] to which you were wont to give the lie!"

NAY, VERILY - the record of the truly virtuous is [set down] in a mode most lofty!

And what could make thee conceive what that mode most lofty will be?

A record [indelibly] inscribed,

witnessed~ by all who have [ever] been drawn close unto God.

Behold, [in the life to come] the truly virtuous will indeed be in bliss:

[resting on couches, they will look up [to God]:

upon their faces thou wilt see the brightness of bliss.

They will be given a drink of pure wine whereon the seal [of God] will have been set,

pouring forth with a fragrance of musk. To that [wine of paradise], then, let all such aspire as [are willing to] aspire to things of high account:

for it is composed of all that is most exalting

a source [of bliss] whereof those who are drawn close unto God shall drink.

BEHOLD, those who have abandoned themselves to sin are wont to laugh at such as have attained to faith

and whenever they pass by them, they wink at one another [derisively];

and whenever they return to people of their own kind, they return full of jests;

and whenever they see those [who believe,] they say, "Behold, these [people] have indeed gone astray!"

And, withal, they have no call to watch over [the beliefs of] others...

But on the Day [of Judgment], they who had attained to faith will [be able to] laugh at the [erstwhile] deniers of the truth:

[for, resting in paradise] on couches, they will look on [and say to themselves]:

"Are these deniers of the truth being [thus] requited for [aught but] what they were wont to do?"

WHEN THE SKY is split asunder,

obeying its Sustainer, as in truth it must;

and when the earth is leveled,

and casts forth whatever is in it, and becomes utterly void,

obeying its Sustainer, as in truth it must -:

[then,] O man - thou [that] hast, verily, been toiling towards thy Sustainer in painful toil - then shalt thou meet Him!

And as for him whose record shall be placed in his right hand,

he will in time be called to account with an easy accounting,

and will [be able to] turn joyfully to those of his own kind.

But as for him whose record shall be given to him behind his back;

he will in time pray for utter destruction:

but he will enter the blazing flame.

Behold, [in his earthly life] he lived joyfully among people of his own kind

for, behold, he never thought that he would have to return [to God].

Yea indeed! His Sustainer did see all that was in him!

BUT NAY! I call to witness the sunset's [fleeting] afterglow,

and the night, and what it [step by step] unfolds,

and the moon, as it grows to its fullness:

[even thus, O men,] are you bound to move; onward from stage to stage.

What, then, is amiss with them that they will not believe [in a life to come]?

and [that], when the Qur’an is read unto them, they do not fall down in prostration?

Nay, but they who are bent on denying the truth give the lie [to this divine writ]!

Yet God has full knowledge of what they conceal [in their hearts].

Hence, give them the tiding of grievous suffering [in the life to come] –

unless it be such [of them] as [repent, and] attain to faith, and do good works: for theirs shall be a reward unending!.

CONSIDER the sky full of great constellations,

and [then bethink thyself of] the promised Day,

and [of] Him who witnesses [all], and [of] that unto which witness is borne [by Him]!

THEY DESTROY [but] themselves, they who would ready a pit

of fire fiercely burning [for all who have attained to faith]!

Lo! [With glee do] they contemplate that [fire],

fully conscious of what they are doing to the believers,

whom they hate for no other reason than that they believe in God, the Almighty, the One to whom all praise is due,

[and] to whom the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs. But God is witness unto everything!

Verily, as for those who persecute believing men and believing women, and thereafter do not repent, hell's suffering awaits them: yea, suffering through fire awaits them!

[But,] verily, they who attain to faith and do righteous deeds shall [in the life to come] have gardens through which running waters flow - that triumph most great!

VERILY, thy Sustainer's grip is exceedingly strong!

Behold, it is He who creates [man] in the first instance, and He [it is who] will bring him forth anew.

And He alone is truly-forgiving, all-embracing in His love,

in sublime almightiness enthroned,

a sovereign doer of whatever He wills.

HAS IT ever come within thy ken, the story of the [sinful] hosts

of Pharaoh, and of [the tribe of] Thamud?

And yet, they who are bent on denying the truth persist in giving it the lie:

but all the while God encompasses them [with His knowledge and might] without their being aware of it.

Nay, but this [divine writ which they reject] is a discourse sublime,

upon an imperishable tablet [inscribed].

CONSIDER the heavens and that which comes in the night!

And what could make thee conceive what it is that comes in the night?

It is the star that pierces through [life's] darkness:

[for] no human being has ever been left unguarded.

LET MAN, then, observe out of what he has been created:

he has been created out of a seminal fluid

issuing from between the loins [of man] and the pelvic arch [of woman].

Now, verily, He [who thus creates man in the first instance] is well able to bring him back [to life]

on the Day when all secrets will be laid bare,

and [man] will have neither strength nor helper!

Consider the heavens, ever-revolving,

and the earth, bursting forth with plants!

BEHOLD, this [divine writ] is indeed a word that between truth and falsehood,

and is no idle tale.

Behold, they [who refuse to accept it] devise many a false argument [to disprove its truth];

but I shall bring all their scheming to nought.

Let, then, the deniers of the truth have their will: let them have their will for a little while.

EXTOL the limitless glory of thy Sustainer's name: [the glory of] the Al-Highest,

who creates [every thing], and thereupon forms it in accordance with what it is meant to be,

and who determines the nature [of all that exists], and thereupon guides it [towards its fulfilment],

and who brings forth herbage,

and thereupon causes it to decay into rust-brown stubble!

WE SHALL teach thee, and thou wilt not forget [aught of what thou art taught],

save what God may will [thee to forget] - for, verily, He [alone] knows all that is open to [man's] perception as well as all that is hidden [from it]

and [thus] shall We make easy for thee the path towards [ultimate] ease.

REMIND, THEN, [others of the truth, regardless of] whether this reminding [would seem to] be of use [or not]:

in mind will keep it he who stands in awe [of God],

but aloof from it will remain that most hapless wretch –

he who [in the life to come] shall have to endure the great fire

wherein he will neither die nor remain alive.

To happiness [in the life to come] will indeed attain he who attains to purity [in this world],

and remembers his Sustainer's name, and prays [unto Him].

But nay, [O men,] you prefer the life of this world,

although the life to come is better and more enduring.

Verily, [all] this has indeed been [said] in the earlier revelations –

the revelations of Abraham and Moses.

HAS THERE COME unto thee the tiding of the Overshadowing Event?'

Some faces will on that Day be downcast,

toiling [under burdens of sin], worn out [by fear],

about to enter a glowing fire,

given to drink from a boiling spring.

No food for them save the bitterness of dry thorns,

which gives no strength and neither stills hunger.

[And] some faces will on that Day shine with bliss,

well-pleased with [the fruit of] their striving,

in a garden sublime,

wherein thou wilt hear no empty talk.

Countless springs will flow therein,

[and] there will be thrones [of happiness] raised high,

and goblets placed ready,

and cushions ranged,

and carpets spread out…

DO, THEN, they [who deny resurrection] never gaze at the clouds pregnant with water, [and observe] how they are created?

And at the sky, how it is raised aloft?

And at the mountains, how firmly they are reared?

And at the earth, how it is spread out?

And so, [O Prophet,] exhort them; thy task is only to exhort:

thou canst not compel them [to believe].

However, as for him who turns away, being bent on denying the truth,

him will God cause to suffer the greatest suffering [in the life to come]:

for behold, unto Us will be their return,

and verily, It is for Us to call them to account.

CONSIDER the daybreak

and the ten nights!

Consider the multiple and the One!

Consider the night as it runs its course!

Considering all this - could there be, to anyone endowed with reason, a [more] solemn evidence of the truth?

ART THOU NOT aware of how thy Sustainer has dealt with [the tribe of] ‘Ad,

[the people of] Iram the many-pillared,

the like of whom has never been reared in all the land? –

and with [the tribe of] Thamud, who hollowed out rocks in the valley? –

and with Pharaoh of the [many] tent-poles?

[It was they] who transgressed all bounds of equity all over their lands,

and brought about great corruption therein:

and therefore thy Sustainer let loose upon them a scourge of suffering:

for, verily, thy Sustainer is ever on the watch!

BUT AS FOR man, whenever his Sustainer tries him by His generosity and by letting him enjoy a life of ease, he says, "My Sustainer has been [justly] generous towards me";

whereas, whenever He tries him by straitening his means of livelihood, he says, "My Sustainer has disgraced me!"

But nay, nay, [O men, consider all that you do and fail to do:] you are not generous towards the orphan,

and you do not urge one another to feed the needy,

and you devour the inheritance [of others] with devouring greed,

and you love wealth with boundless love!

Nay, but [how will you fare on Judgment Day,] when the earth is crushed with crushing upon crushing,

and [the majesty of] thy Sustainer stands revealed, as well as [the true nature of] the angels; rank upon rank?

And on that Day hell will be brought [within sight]; on that Day man will remember [all that he did and failed to do]: but what will that remembrance avail him?

He will say, "Oh, would that I had. provided beforehand for my life [to come]!"

For, none can make suffer as He will make suffer [the sinners] on that Day,

and none can bind with bonds like His.

[But unto the righteous God will say,] "O thou human being that hast attained to inner peace!

Return thou unto thy Sustainer, well-pleased [and] pleasing [Him]:

enter, then, together with My [other true] servants –

yea, enter thou My paradise!"

NAY! I call to witness this land –

this land in which thou art free to dwell -

and [I call to witness] parent and offspring:

Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial.

Does he, then, think that no one has power over him?

He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!"

Does he, then, think that no one sees him?

Have We not given him two eyes,

and a tongue, and a pair of lips,

and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]?

But he would not try to ascend the steep uphill road...

And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road?

[It is] the freeing of one's neck [from the burden of sin],

or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger,

of an orphan near of kin,

or of a needy [stranger] lying in the dust –

and being, withal, of those who have attained to faith, and who enjoin upon one another patience in adversity, and enjoin upon one another compassion.

Such are they that have attained to righteousness;

whereas those who are bent on denying the truth of Our messages – they are such as have lost themselves in evil,

[with] fire closing in upon them.

CONSIDER the sun and its radiant brightness,

and the moon as it reflects the sun!

Consider the day as it reveals the world,

and the night as it veils it darkly!

Consider the sky and its wondrous make,

and the earth and all its expanse!