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!

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.

CONSIDER the night as it veils [the earth] in darkness,

and the day as it rises bright!

Consider the creation of the male and the female!

Verily, [O men,] you aim at most divergent ends!

Thus, as for him who gives [to others] and is conscious of God,

and believes in the truth of the ultimate good

for him shall We make easy the path towards [ultimate] ease.

But as for him who is niggardly, and thinks that he is self-sufficient,

and calls the ultimate good a lie –

for him shall We make easy the path towards hardship:

and what will his wealth avail him when he goes down [to his grave]?

BEHOLD, it is indeed for Us to grace [you] with guidance;

and, behold, Ours is [the dominion over] the life to come as well as [over] this earlier part [of your life]:

and so I warn you of the raging fire -

[the fire] which none shall have to endure but that most hapless wretch

who gives the lie to the truth and turns away [from it].

For, distant from it shall remain he who is truly conscious of God:

he that spends his possessions [on others] so that he might grow in purity –

not as payment for favours received,

but only out of a longing for the countenance of his Sustainer, the All-Highest:

and such, indeed, shall in time be well-pleased.

CONSIDER the bright morning hours,

and the night when it grows still and dark.

Thy Sustainer has not forsaken thee, nor does He scorn thee:

for, indeed, the life to come will be better for thee than this earlier part [of thy life]!

And, indeed, in time will thy Sustainer grant thee [what thy heart desires], and thou shalt be well-pleased.

Has He not found thee an orphan, and given thee shelter?

And found thee lost on thy way, and guided thee?

And found thee in want, and given thee sufficiency?

Therefore, the orphan shalt thou never wrong,

and him that seeks [thy] help shalt thou never chide,

and of thy Sustainer's blessings shalt thou [ever] speak.

HAVE WE NOT opened up thy heart,

and lifted from thee the burden

that had weighed so heavily on thy back?

And [have We not] raised thee high in dignity?

And, behold, with every hardship comes ease:

verily, with every hardship comes ease!

Hence, when thou art freed [from distress], remain steadfast,

and unto thy Sustainer turn with love.

CONSIDER the fig and the olive,

and Mount Sinai,

and this land secure!

Verily, We create man in the best conformation;

and thereafter We reduce him to the lowest of low

excepting only such as attain to faith and do good works: and theirs shall be a reward unending!

What, then, [O man,] could henceforth cause thee to give the lie to this moral law?

Is not God the most just of judges?

READ in the name of thy Sustainer, who has-

created man out of a germ-cell

Read - for thy Sustainer is the Most Bountiful One

who has taught [man] the use of the pen –

taught man what he did not know!

Nay, verily, man becomes grossly overweening

whenever he believes himself to be self-sufficient:

for, behold, unto thy Sustainer all must return.

HAST THOU ever considered him who tries to prevent

a servant [of God] from praying?

Hast thou considered whether he is on the right way,

or is concerned with God-consciousness?

Hast thou considered whether he may [not] be giving the lie to the truth and turning his back [upon it]?

Does he, then, not know that God sees [all]?

Nay, if he desist not, We shall most surely drag him down upon his forehead

the lying, rebellious forehead! –

and then let him summon [to his aid] the counsels of his own [spurious] wisdom,

[the while] We shall summon the forces of heavenly chastisement!

Nay, pay thou no heed to him, but prostrate thyself [before God] and draw close [unto Him]!

BEHOLD, from on high have We bestowed this [divine writ] on Night of Destiny.

And what could make thee conceive what it is, that Night of Destiny?

The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months:

in hosts descend in it the angels, bearing divine inspiration by their Sustainer's leave; from all [evil] that may happen

does it make secure, until the rise of dawn.

IT IS NOT [conceivable] that such as are bent on denying the truth - [be they] from among the followers of earlier revelation or from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God should ever be abandoned [by Him] ere there comes unto them the [full] evidence of the truth:

an apostle from God, conveying [unto them] revelations blest with purity,

wherein there are ordinances of ever-true soundness and clarity.

Now those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime did break up their unity [of faith] after such an evidence of the truth had come to them.

And withal, they were not enjoined aught but that they should worship God, sincere in their faith in Him alone, turning away from all that is false; and that they should be constant in prayer; and that they should spend in charity: for this is a moral law endowed with ever-true soundness and clarity.

Verily, those who [despite all evidence] are bent on denying the truth - [be they] from among the followers of earlier revelation or from among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God - will find themselves in the fire of hell, therein to abide: they are the worst of all creatures.

[And,] verily, those who have attained to faith, and do righteous deeds - it is they, they who are the best of all creatures.

Their reward [awaits them] with God: gardens of perpetual bliss, through which running waters flow, therein to abide beyond the count of time; well-pleased is God with them, and well-pleased are they with Him: all this awaits him who of his Sustainer stands in awe!.

WHEN THE EARTH quakes with her [last] mighty quaking,

and [when] the earth yields up her burdens,

and man cries out, "What has happened to her?" -

on that Day will she recount all her tidings,

as thy Sustainer will have inspired her to do!

On that Day will all men come forward, cut off from one another, to be shown their [past] deeds.

And so, he who shall have done an atom's weight of good, shall behold it;

and he who shall have done an atom's weight of evil, shall behold it.

Oh, the chargers that run panting,

sparks of fire striking,

rushing to assault at morn,

thereby raising clouds of dust,

thereby storming [blindly] into any host!

VERILY, towards his Sustainer man is most ungrateful

and to this, behold, he [himself] bears witness indeed:

for, verily, to the love of wealth is he most ardently devoted.

But does he not know that [on the Last Day,] when all that is in the graves is raised and brought out,

and all that is [hidden] in men's hearts is bared

that on that Day their Sustainer [will show that He] has always been fully aware of them?

OH, the sudden calamity!

How awesome the sudden calamity!

And what could make thee conceive what that sudden calamity will be?

[It will occur] on the Day when men will be like moths swarming in confusion,

and the mountains will be like fluffy tufts of wool....

And then, he whose weight [of good deeds] is heavy in the balance

shall find himself in a happy' state of life;

whereas he whose weight is light in the balance

shall be engulfed by an abyss.

And what could make thee conceive what that [abyss] will be?

A fire hotly burning!

YOU ARE OBSESSED by greed for more and more

until you go down to your graves.

Nay, in time you will come to understand!

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

Nay, if you could but understand [it] with an understanding [born] of certainty,

you would indeed, most surely, behold the blazing fire [of hell]!

In the end you will indeed, most surely, behold it with the eye of certainty:

and on that Day you will most surely be called to account for [what you did with] the boon of life!

CONSIDER the flight of time!

Verily, man is bound to lose himself

unless he be of those who attain to faith, and do good works, and enjoin upon one another the keeping to truth, and enjoin upon one another patience in adversity.

WOE unto every slanderer, fault-finder!

[Woe unto him who amasses wealth and counts it a safeguard,

thinking that his wealth will make him live forever!

Nay, but [in the life to come such as] he shall indeed be abandoned to crushing torment!

And what could make thee conceive what that crushing torment will be?

A fire kindled by God,

which will rise over the [guilty] hearts:

verily, it will close in upon them

in endless columns!

ART THOU NOT aware of how thy Sustainer dealt with the Army of the Elephant?

Did He not utterly confound their artful planning?

Thus, He let loose upon them great swarms of flying creatures

which smote them with stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained,

and caused them to become like a field of grain that has been eaten down to stubble

SO THAT the Quraysh might remain secure,

secure in their winter and summer journeys,

Let them, therefore, worship the Sustainer of this Temple;

who has given them food against hunger, and made them safe from danger.

HAST THOU ever considered [the kind of man] who gives the lie to all moral law?

Behold, it is this [kind of man] that thrusts the orphan away,

and feels no urge to feed the needy.

Woe, then, unto those praying ones

whose hearts from their prayer are remote

those who want only to be seen and praised,

and, withal, deny all assistance [to their fellow-men]!

BEHOLD, We have bestowed upon thee good in abundance:

hence, pray unto thy Sustainer [alone], and sacrifice [unto Him alone].

Verily, he that hates thee has indeed been cut off [from all that is good]!

SAY: "O you who deny the truth!

"I do not worship that which you worship,

and neither do you worship that which I worship!

"And I will not worship ~hat which you have [ever] worshipped,

and neither will you [ever] worship that which I worship.

Unto you, your moral law, and unto me, mine!"

WHEN GOD'S SUCCOUR comes, and victory,

and thou seest people enter God's religion in hosts,

extol thy Sustainer's limitless glory, and praise Him, and seek His forgiveness: for, behold, He is ever an acceptor of repentance.

DOOMED are the hands of him of the glowing countence: and doomed is he!

What will his wealth avail him, and all that he has gained?

[In the life to come] he shall have to endure a fire fiercely glowing;

together with his wife, that carrier of evil tales,

[who bears] around her neck a rope of twisted strands!

SAY: "He is the One God:

"God the Eternal, the Uncaused Cause of All Being.

"He begets not, and neither is He begotten;

"and there is nothing that could be compared with Him.

SAY: "I seek refuge with the Sustainer of the rising dawn,

"from the evil of aught that He has created,

"and from the evil of the black darkness whenever it descends,

"and from the evil of all human beings bent on occult endeavours,

"and from the evil of the envious when he envies."

SAY: "I seek refuge with the Sustainer of men,

"the Sovereign of men,

"the God of men,

"from the evil of the whispering, elusive tempter

"who whispers in the hearts of men

"from all [temptation to evil by] invisible forces as well as men,"