Chapter 70, 44 verses
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم سأل سائل بعذاب واقع
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. A questioner questioned concerning the doom about to fall
To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer.
للكافرين ليس له دافع
Upon the disbelievers, which none can repel,
[It is] from Allah, owner of the ways of ascent.
من الله ذي المعارج
From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways
The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years.
تعرج الملائكة والروح إليه في يوم كان مقداره خمسين ألف سنة
(Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years.
So be patient with gracious patience.
فاصبر صبرا جميلا
But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see.
Indeed, they see it [as] distant,
إنهم يرونه بعيدا
Lo! they behold it afar off
But We see it [as] near.
ونراه قريبا
While we behold it nigh:
On the Day the sky will be like murky oil,
يوم تكون السماء كالمهل
The day when the sky will become as molten copper,
And the mountains will be like wool,
وتكون الجبال كالعهن
And the hills become as flakes of wool,
And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend,
ولا يسأل حميم حميما
And no familiar friend will ask a question of his friend
They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children
يبصرونهم ۚ يود المجرم لو يفتدي من عذاب يومئذ ببنيه
Though they will be given sight of them. The guilty man will long to be able to ransom himself from the punishment of that day at the price of his children
And his wife and his brother
وصاحبته وأخيه
And his spouse and his brother
And his nearest kindred who shelter him
وفصيلته التي تؤويه
And his kin that harboured him
And whoever is on earth entirely [so] then it could save him.
ومن في الأرض جميعا ثم ينجيه
And all that are in the earth, if then it might deliver him.
No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell],
كلا ۖ إنها لظى
But nay! for lo! it is the fire of hell
A remover of exteriors.
نزاعة للشوى
Eager to roast;
It invites he who turned his back [on truth] and went away [from obedience]
تدعو من أدبر وتولى
It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth),
And collected [wealth] and hoarded.
وجمع فأوعى
And hoarded (wealth) and withheld it.
Indeed, mankind was created anxious:
۞ إن الإنسان خلق هلوعا
Lo! man was created anxious,
When evil touches him, impatient,
إذا مسه الشر جزوعا
Fretful when evil befalleth him
And when good touches him, withholding [of it],
وإذا مسه الخير منوعا
And, when good befalleth him, grudging;
Except the observers of prayer -
إلا المصلين
Save worshippers.
Those who are constant in their prayer
الذين هم على صلاتهم دائمون
Who are constant at their worship
And those within whose wealth is a known right
والذين في أموالهم حق معلوم
And in whose wealth there is a right acknowledged
For the petitioner and the deprived -
للسائل والمحروم
For the beggar and the destitute;
And those who believe in the Day of Recompense
والذين يصدقون بيوم الدين
And those who believe in the Day of Judgment,
And those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord -
والذين هم من عذاب ربهم مشفقون
And those who are fearful of their Lord's doom -
Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe -
إن عذاب ربهم غير مأمون
Lo! the doom of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure -
And those who guard their private parts
والذين هم لفروجهم حافظون
And those who preserve their chastity
Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed -
إلا على أزواجهم أو ما ملكت أيمانهم فإنهم غير ملومين
Save with their wives and those whom their right hands possess, for thus they are not blameworthy;
But whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors -
فمن ابتغى وراء ذلك فأولئك هم العادون
But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors;
And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive
والذين هم لأماناتهم وعهدهم راعون
And those who keep their pledges and their covenant,
And those who are in their testimonies upright
والذين هم بشهاداتهم قائمون
And those who stand by their testimony
And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer:
والذين هم على صلاتهم يحافظون
And those who are attentive at their worship.
They will be in gardens, honored.
أولئك في جنات مكرمون
These will dwell in Gardens, honoured.
So what is [the matter] with those who disbelieve, hastening [from] before you, [O Muhammad],
فمال الذين كفروا قبلك مهطعين
What aileth those who disbelieve, that they keep staring toward thee (O Muhammad), open - eyed,
[To sit] on [your] right and [your] left in separate groups?
عن اليمين وعن الشمال عزين
On the right and on the left, in groups ?
Does every person among them aspire to enter a garden of pleasure?
أيطمع كل امرئ منهم أن يدخل جنة نعيم
Doth every man among them hope to enter the Garden of Delight ?
No! Indeed, We have created them from that which they know.
كلا ۖ إنا خلقناهم مما يعلمون
Nay, verily. Lo! We created them from what they know.
So I swear by the Lord of [all] risings and settings that indeed We are able
فلا أقسم برب المشارق والمغارب إنا لقادرون
But nay! I swear by the Lord of the rising - places and the setting - places of the planets that We verily are Able
To replace them with better than them; and We are not to be outdone.
على أن نبدل خيرا منهم وما نحن بمسبوقين
To replace them by (others) better than them. And we are not to be outrun.
So leave them to converse vainly and amuse themselves until they meet their Day which they are promised -
فذرهم يخوضوا ويلعبوا حتى يلاقوا يومهم الذي يوعدون
So let them chat and play until they meet their Day which they are promised,
The Day they will emerge from the graves rapidly as if they were, toward an erected idol, hastening.
يوم يخرجون من الأجداث سراعا كأنهم إلى نصب يوفضون
The day when they come forth from the graves in haste, as racing to a goal,
Their eyes humbled, humiliation will cover them. That is the Day which they had been promised.
خاشعة أبصارهم ترهقهم ذلة ۚ ذلك اليوم الذي كانوا يوعدون
With eyes aghast, abasement stupefying them: Such is the Day which they are promised.