Ash-Shams

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!

Consider the human self, and how it is formed in accordance with what it is meant to be,

and how it is imbued with moral failings as well as with consciousness of God!

To a happy state shall indeed attain he who causes this [self] to grow in purity,

and truly lost is he who buries it [in darkness].

TO [THIS] TRUTH gave the lie, in their overweening arrogance, [the tribe of] Thamud,

when that most hapless wretch from among them rushed forward [to commit his evil deed],

although God's apostle had told them, "It is a she-camel belonging to God, so let her drink [and do her no harm]!"

But they gave him the lie, and cruelly slaughtered her - whereupon their Sustainer visited them with utter destruction for this their sin, destroying them all alike:

for none [of them] had any fear of what might befall them.