English - Chapter 74 - Al-Muddaththir

O THOU [in thy solitude] enfolded

Arise and warn

And thy Sustainer's greatness glorify

And thine inner self purify

And do not through giving seek thyself to gain

but unto thy Sustainer turn in patience

And [warn all men that] when the trumpet-call [of resurrection] is sounded

that very Day shall be a day of anguish

not of ease, for all who [now] deny the truth

LEAVE Me alone [to deal] with him whom I have created alone

and to whom I have granted resources vast

and children as [love's] witnesses

and to whose life I gave so wide a scope

and yet, he greedily desires that I give yet more

Nay, verily, it is against Our messages that he knowingly, stubbornly sets himself

[and so] I shall constrain him to endure a painful uphill climb

Behold, [when Our messages are conveyed to one who is bent on denying the truth,] he reflects and meditates [as to how to disprove them] –

and thus he destroys himself, the way he meditates

yea, he destroys himself, the way he meditates

and then he looks [around for new arguments]

and then he frowns and glares

and in the end he turns his back [on Our message], and glories in his arrogance

and says, "All this is mere spellbinding eloquence handed down [from olden times]

This is nothing but the word of mortal man

[Hence,] I shall cause him to endure hell-fire [in the life to come]

And what could make thee conceive what hell-fire is

It does not allow to live, and neither leaves [to die]

making [all truth] visible to mortal man

Over it are nineteen [powers]

For We have caused none but angelic powers to lord over the fire [of hell]; and We have not caused their number to be aught but a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth - to the end that they who have been granted revelation aforetime might be convinced [of the truth of this divine writ]; and that they who have attained to faith [in it] might grow yet more firm in their faith; and that [both] they who have been granted the earlier revelation and they who believe [in this one] might be freed of all doubt; and that they in whose hearts is disease and the who deny the truth outright might ask, "What does [your] God mean by this parable?" In this way God lets go astray him that wills [to go astray], and guides aright him that wills [to be guided]. And none can comprehend thy Sustainers forces save Him alone: and all this is but a reminder to mortal man

NAY, but consider the moon

Consider the night when it departs

and the morn when it dawns

Verily, that [hell-fire) is Indeed one of the great [forewarnings] –

a warning to mortal man –

to everyone of you, whether he chooses to come forward or to hang back

[On the Day of Judgment,] every human being will be held in pledge for whatever [evil] he has wrought –

save those who shall have attained to righteousness

[dwelling] In gardens [of paradise], they will inquire

of those who were lost in sin

What has brought you into hell-fire

They will answer: "We were not among those who prayed

and neither did we feed the needy

and we were wont to indulge in sinning together with all [the others] who indulged in it

and the Day of Judgment we were wont to call a lie –

until certainty came upon us [in death]

And so, of no benefit to them could be the intercession of any that would intercede for them

WHAT, THEN, is amiss with them that they turn away from all admonition

as though they were terrified asses

fleeing from a lion

Yea, everyone of them claims that he [himself] ought to have been given revelations unfolded

Nay, but they do not [believe in and, hence, do not] fear the life to come

Nay, verily, this is an admonition –

and whoever wills may take it to heart

But they [who do not believe in the life to come] will not take it to heart unless God so wills: [for] He is the Fount of all God-consciousness, and the Fount of all forgiveness