Hizb 59

What is it that they are questioning each other about?!

[Is it] about the Great Tiding,

the one about which they differ?

No indeed! Soon they will know!

No indeed! Soon they will know for once again!

Did We not make the earth a resting place?

and the mountains stakes?

and create you in pairs?

and make your sleep for rest?

and make the night a covering?

and make the day for livelihood?

and build above you the seven mighty heavens?

and make [the sun for] a radiant lamp?

and send down water pouring from the rain-clouds,

that We may bring forth with it grains and plants,

and luxuriant gardens?

Indeed the Day of Judgement is the tryst,

the day the Trumpet will be blown, and you will come in groups,

and the sky will be opened and become gates,

and the mountains will be set moving and become a mirage.

Indeed hell is in ambush,

a resort for the rebels,

to reside therein for ages,

tasting in it neither any coolness nor drink,

except boiling water and pus,

a fitting requital.

Indeed they did not expect any reckoning,

and they denied Our signs mendaciously,

and We have figured everything in a Book.

So [now] taste! We shall increase you in nothing but punishment!

Indeed a triumph awaits the Godwary:

gardens and vineyards,

and buxom maidens of a like age,

and brimming cups.

Therein they shall hear neither vain talk nor lies

—a reward and a sufficing bounty from your Lord,

the All-beneficent, the Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them. They will not be able to address Him

on the day when the Spirit and the angels stand in an array: none shall speak except someone who is permitted by the All-beneficent and says what is rightful.

That day is true for certain. So let anyone who wishes take resort with his Lord.

Indeed We have warned you of a punishment near at hand—the day when a person will observe what his hands have sent ahead and the faithless one will say, ‘I wish I were dust!’

By those [angels] who wrest [the soul] violently,

by those who draw [it] out gently,

by those who swim smoothly,

by those who, racing, take the lead,

by those who direct the affairs [of creatures]:

the day when the Quaker quakes

and is followed by the Successor,

hearts will be trembling on that day,

bearing a humbled look.

They will say, ‘Are we being returned to our earlier state?

What, even after we have been decayed bones?!’

They will say, ‘This is, then, a ruinous return!’

Yet it will be only a single shout,

and behold, they will be awake.

Did you receive the story of Moses,

when his Lord called out to him in the holy valley of Tuwa?

[And said,] ‘Go to Pharaoh, for indeed he has rebelled,

and say, ‘‘Would you purify yourself?

I will guide you to your Lord, that you may fear [Him]?’’ ’

Then he showed him the greatest sign.

But he denied, and disobeyed.

Then he turned back, walking swiftly,

and gathered [the people] and proclaimed,

saying, ‘I am your exalted lord!’

So Allah seized him with the punishment of this life and the Hereafter.

There is indeed a moral in that for someone who fears!

Is your creation more prodigious or that of the heaven He has built?

He raised its vault and fashioned it,

and darkened its night, and brought forth its forenoon.

Thereafter He spread out the earth,

brought forth from it its water and pastures,

setting firm the mountains,

as a [place of] sustenance for you and your livestock.

When the Greatest Catastrophe befalls

—the day when man will remember his endeavours

and hell is brought into view for those who can see—

as for him who has been rebellious

and preferred the life of this world,

his refuge will indeed be hell.

But as for him who is awed to stand before his Lord and restrains his soul from [following] desires,

his refuge will indeed be paradise.

They ask you concerning the Hour, “When will it set in,

considering your frequent mention of it?”

Its outcome is with your Lord.

You are only a warner for those who are afraid it.

The day they see it, it shall be as if they had not stayed [in the world] except for an evening or forenoon.

He frowned and turned away

when the blind man approached him.

And how do you know, maybe he would purify himself,

or take admonition, and the admonition would benefit him!

But as for someone who is wealthy,

you attend to him,

though you are not liable if he does not purify himself.

But as for someone who comes hurrying to you,

while he fears [Allah],

you are neglectful of him.

No indeed! These [verses of the Quran ] are a reminder

—so let anyone who wishes remember—

in honoured scriptures,

exalted and purified,

in the hands of envoys,

noble and pious.

Perish man! How ungrateful is he!

From what did He create him?

He created him from a drop of [seminal] fluid; then proportioned him.

Then He made the way easy for him;

then He made him die and buried him;

and then, when He wished, resurrected him.

No indeed! He has not yet carried out what He has commanded him.

Let man consider his food:

We pour down plenteous water [from the sky],

then We split the earth making fissures in it

and make the grain grow in it,

as well as vines and vegetables,

olives and date palms,

and densely-planted gardens,

fruits and pastures,

as a sustenance for you and your livestock.

So when the deafening Cry comes—

the day when a man will evade his brother,

his mother and his father,

his spouse and his sons—

each of them will have a task to keep him preoccupied on that day.

Some faces will be bright on that day,

laughing and joyous,

and some faces on that day will be covered with dust,

overcast with gloom.

It is they who are the faithless, the vicious.

When the sun is wound up,

when the stars scatter,

when the mountains are set moving,

when the pregnant camels are neglected,

when the wild beasts are mustered,

when the seas are set afire,

when the souls are assorted,

when the girl buried-alive will be asked

for what sin she was killed.

When the records [of deeds] are unfolded,

when the sky is stripped off,

when hell is set ablaze,

when paradise is brought near,

then a soul shall know what it has readied [for itself].

So I swear by the stars that return,

the comets,

by the night as it approaches,

by the dawn as it breathes:

it is indeed the speech of a noble apostle,

powerful and eminent with the Lord of the Throne,

one who is obeyed and is trustworthy as well.

Your companion is not crazy:

certainly he saw him on the manifest horizon,

and he is not miserly concerning the Unseen.

And it is not the speech of an outcast Satan.

So where are you going?

It is just a reminder for all the nations,

for those of you who wish to walk straight;

but you will not wish unless it is wished by Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.

When the sky is rent apart,

when the stars are scattered,

when the seas are merged,

when the graves are overturned,

then a soul shall know what it has sent ahead and left behind.

O man! What has deceived you about your generous Lord,

who created you and proportioned you, and gave you an upright nature,

and composed you in any form that He wished?

No! Indeed, you deny the Retribution.

Indeed, there are over you watchers,

noble writers,

who know whatever you do.

Indeed the pious shall be amid bliss,

and indeed the vicious shall be in hell,

entering it on the Day of Retribution,

and they shall not be absent from it.

And what will show you what is the Day of Retribution?

Again, what will show you what is the Day of Retribution?

It is a day when no soul will be of any avail to another soul and all command that day will belong to Allah.

Woe to the defrauders, who use short measures,

who, when they measure [a commodity bought] from the people, take the full measure,

but diminish when they measure or weigh for them.

Do they not know that they will be resurrected

on a tremendous day,

a day when mankind will stand before the Lord of all the worlds?

Indeed, the record of the vicious is in Sijjeen.

And what will show you what is Sijjeen?

It is a written record.

Woe to the deniers on that day,

who deny the Day of Retribution;

and none denies it except every sinful transgressor.

When Our signs are recited to him, he says, ‘Myths of the ancients!’

No, that is not the case! Rather, their hearts have been sullied by what they have been earning.

Indeed, they will be alienated from their Lord on that day.

Afterward they will enter hell,

then told, ‘This is what you used to deny!’

Indeed, the record of the pious is in Illeeyun.

And what will show you what is Illeeyun?

It is a written record,

witnessed by those brought near [to Allah].

The pious shall be amid bliss,

observing, [as they recline] on couches.

You will perceive in their faces the freshness of bliss.

They will be served with a sealed pure wine,

whose seal is musk—for such let the viers vie—

and whose seasoning is from Tasneem,

a spring where those brought near [to Allah] drink.

Indeed the guilty used to laugh at the faithful,

and when they passed them by they would wink at each other,

and when they returned to their folks they would return amused,

and when they saw them they would say, ‘Indeed those are the astray!’

Though they were not sent to watch over them.

So today the faithful will laugh at the faithless,

observing from their couches:

Have the faithless been requited for what they used to do?

When the sky is split open

and gives ear to its Lord as it should.

When the earth is spread out

and throws out what is in it, emptying itself,

and gives ear to its Lord as it should.

O man! You are labouring toward your Lord laboriously, and you will encounter Him.

Then, as for him who is given his record [of deeds] in his right hand,

he will receive an easy reckoning,

and he will return to his folks joyfully.

But as for him who is given his record from behind his back,

he will pray for annihilation

and enter the Blaze.

Indeed he used to be joyful among his folk,

and he thought that he would never return.

Yes, his Lord had been watching him.

I swear by the evening glow,

by the night and what it is fraught with,

by the moon when it blooms full:

you will surely fare from stage to stage.

What is the matter with them that they will not believe,

and will not prostrate when the Quran is recited to them?

Indeed, the faithless impugn [the Apostle],

and Allah knows best what they keep to themselves.

So inform them of a painful punishment,

excepting such as are faithful and do righteous deeds: for them there will be an everlasting reward.

By the heaven with its Houses,

by the Promised Day,

by the Witness and the Witnessed:

perish the People of the Ditch!

The fire abounding in fuel,

above which they sat

as they were themselves witnesses to what they did to the faithful.

They were vindictive towards them only because they had faith in Allah, the All-mighty and the All-laudable,

to whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is witness to all things.

Indeed those who persecute the faithful, men and women, and do not repent thereafter, there is the punishment of hell for them and the punishment of burning.

Indeed those who have faith and do righteous deeds—for them will be gardens with streams running in them. That is the supreme success.

Indeed your Lord’s striking is severe.

It is indeed He who originates and brings back,

and He is the All-forgiving, the All-affectionate,

Lord of the Throne, the All-glorious,

doer of what He desires.

Did you receive the story of the hosts

of Pharaoh and Thamud?

Indeed the faithless dwell in denial,

and Allah besieges them from all around.

Indeed it is a glorious Quran,

in a preserved tablet.

By the heaven, and by the nightly visitor

(and what will show you what is the nightly visitor?

It is the brilliant star):

there is a guard over every soul.

So let man consider from what he was created.

He was created from an effusing fluid

which issues from between the loins and the breast-bones.

Indeed He is able to bring him back [after death],

on the day when the secrets are examined

and he shall have neither power nor helper.

By the resurgent heaven,

and by the furrowed earth:

it is indeed a conclusive discourse,

and not a jest.

Indeed they are devising a stratagem,

and I [too] am devising a plan.

So respite the faithless; give them a gentle respite.