Hizb 60

Celebrate the Name of your Lord, the Most Exalted,

who created and proportioned,

who determined and guided,

who brought forth the pasture

and then turned it into a black scum.

We shall have you recite [the Quran], then you will not forget [any of it]

except what Allah may wish. Indeed, He knows the open and what is hidden.

And We shall ease you into facility.

So admonish, for admonition is indeed beneficial:

he who fears [God] will take admonition,

and the most wretched will shun it

—he who will enter the Great Fire,

then he will neither live in it, nor die.

‘Felicitous is he who purifies himself,

celebrates the Name of his Lord, and prays.

But you prefer the life of this world,

while the Hereafter is better and more lasting.’

This is indeed in the former scriptures,

the scriptures of Abraham and Moses.

Did you receive the account of the Enveloper?

Some faces on that day will be humbled,

wrought-up and weary:

they will enter a scorching fire

and made to drink from a boiling spring.

They will have no food except cactus,

neither nourishing, nor of avail against hunger.

Some faces on that day will be joyous,

pleased with their endeavour,

in a lofty garden,

where they will not hear any vain talk.

In it is a flowing spring

and raised couches,

with goblets set,

and cushions laid out in an array,

and carpets spread out.

Do they not observe the camel, [to see] how it has been created?

and the sky, how it has been raised?

and the mountains, how they have been set?

and the earth, how it has been surfaced?

So admonish—for you are only an admonisher,

and not a taskmaster over them—

except him who turns back and disbelieves.

Him Allah will punish with the greatest punishment.

Indeed to Us will be their return.

Then, indeed, their reckoning will lie with Us.

By the Dawn,

by the ten nights,

by the Even and the Odd,

by the night when it departs!

Is there an oath in that for one possessing intellect?

Have you not regarded how your Lord dealt with [the people of] ‘Ad,

[and] Iram, [the city] of the pillars,

the like of which was not created among cities,

and [the people of] Thamud, who hollowed out the rocks in the valley,

and Pharaoh, the impaler

—those who rebelled [against Allah] in their cities

and caused much corruption in them,

so your Lord poured on them lashes of punishment.

Indeed your Lord is in ambush.

As for man, whenever his Lord tests him, and grants him honour, and blesses him, he says, ‘My Lord has honoured me.’

But when He tests him and tightens for him his provision, he says, ‘My Lord has humiliated me.’

No indeed! No, you do not honour the orphan,

and do not urge the feeding of the needy.

You eat the inheritance rapaciously,

and love wealth with much fondness.

No indeed! When the earth is levelled to a plain,

and your Lord [’s edict] arrives with the angels in ranks,

the day when hell is brought [near], man will take admonition on that day, but what will that admonition avail him?

He will say, ‘Alas, had I sent ahead for my life [in the Hereafter]!’

On that day none shall punish as He punishes,

and none shall bind as He binds.

‘O soul at peace!

Return to your Lord, pleased and pleasing!

Then enter among My servants,

and enter My paradise!’

I swear by this town,

as you reside in this town;

[and] by the father and him whom he begot:

certainly We created man in travail.

Does he suppose that no one will ever have power over him?

He says, ‘I have squandered immense wealth.’

Does he suppose that no one sees him?

Have We not made for him two eyes,

a tongue, and two lips,

and shown him the two paths [of good and evil]?

Yet he has not embarked upon the uphill task.

And what will show you what is the uphill task?

[It is] the freeing of a slave,

or feeding, during days of [general] starvation,

an orphan among relatives

or a needy man in desolation,

while being one of those who have faith and enjoin one another to patience, and enjoin one another to compassion.

They are the People of the Right Hand.

But those who defy Our signs, they are the People of the Left Hand.

A closed Fire will be [imposed] upon them.

By the sun and her forenoon splendour,

by the moon when he follows her,

by the day when it reveals her,

by the night when it covers her,

by the sky and Him who built it,

by the earth and Him who spread it,

by the soul and Him who fashioned it,

and inspired it with [discernment between] its virtues and vices:

one who purifies it is felicitous,

and one who betrays it fails.

The [people of] Thamud denied [Allah’s signs] out of their rebellion,

when the most wretched of them rose up.

The apostle of Allah had told them, ‘This is Allah’s she-camel, let her drink!’

But they impugned him and hamstrung her. So their Lord took them unawares by night because of their sin, and levelled it.

And He does not fear its outcome.

By the night when it envelops,

by the day when it brightens,

by Him who created the male and the female:

your endeavours are indeed diverse.

As for him who gives and is Godwary

and confirms the best promise,

We will surely ease him toward facility.

But as for him, who is stingy and self-complacent,

and denies the best promise,

We will surely ease him toward hardship.

His wealth will not avail him when he perishes.

Indeed guidance rests with Us,

and to Us belong the world and the Hereafter.

So I warn you of a blazing fire,

which none shall enter except the most wretched [of persons]

—he who impugns [God’s prophets] and turns his back.

The Godwary [person] will be spared of that

—he who gives his wealth to purify himself

and does not expect any reward from anyone,

but seek only the pleasure of their Lord, the Most Exalted,

and, surely, soon they will be well-pleased.

By the morning brightness,

and by the night when it is calm!

Your Lord has neither forsaken you, nor is He displeased with you,

and the Hereafter shall be better for you than the world.

Soon your Lord will give you [that with which] you will be pleased.

Did He not find you an orphan, and shelter you?

Did He not find you astray, and guide you?

Did He not find you needy, and enrich you?

So, as for the orphan, do not oppress him;

and as for the beggar, do not chide him;

and as for your Lord’s blessing, proclaim it!

Did We not open your breast for you

and relieve you of your burden

which [almost] broke your back?

Did We not exalt your name?

Indeed ease accompanies hardship.

Indeed ease accompanies hardship.

So when you are done, appoint,

and supplicate your Lord.

By the fig and the olive,

by Mount Sinai,

and by this secure town:

We certainly created man in the best of forms;

then We relegated him to the lowest of the low,

except those who have faith and do righteous deeds. There will be an everlasting reward for them.

So what makes you deny the Retribution?

Is not Allah the fairest of all judges?

Read in the Name of your Lord who created;

created man from a clinging mass.

Read, and your Lord is the most generous,

who taught by the pen,

taught man what he did not know.

Indeed man becomes rebellious

when he considers himself without need.

Indeed to your Lord is the return.

Tell me, he who forbids

a servant when he prays,

tell me, should he be on [true] guidance,

or bid [others] to Godwariness,

tell me, should he call him a liar and turn away

—does he not know that Allah sees [him]?

No indeed! If he does not cease, We shall seize him by the forelock,

a lying, sinful forelock!

Then let him call out his gang!

We [too] shall call the keepers of hell.

No indeed! Do not obey him, but prostrate and draw near [to Allah]!

Indeed We sent it down on the Night of Ordainment.

And what will show you what is the Night of Ordainment?

The Night of Ordainment is better than a thousand months.

In it the angels and the Spirit descend, by the leave of their Lord, with every command.

It is peaceful until the rising of the dawn.

The faithless from among the People of the Book and the polytheists were not set apart [from the community of the faithful] until the proof had come to them:

an apostle from Allah reciting impeccable scriptures,

wherein are upright writings.

Those who were given the Book did not divide except after the proof had come to them.

Though they were not commanded except to worship Allah, dedicating their faith to Him as men of pure faith, and to maintain the prayer and pay the zakat. That is the upright religion.

Indeed the faithless from among the People of the Book and the polytheists will be in the fire of hell, to remain in it [forever]. It is they who are the worst of creatures.

Indeed those who have faith and do righteous deeds—it is they who are the best of creatures.

Their reward, near their Lord, is the Gardens of Eden, with streams running in them, to remain in them forever. Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. That is for those who fear their Lord.

When the earth is rocked with a terrible quake

and discharges its burdens,

and man says, ‘What is the matter with her?’

On that day she will relate her chronicles

for her Lord will have inspired her.

On that day, mankind will issue forth in various groups to be shown their deeds.

So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it,

and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.

By the snorting chargers,

by the strikers of sparks [with their hoofs],

by the raiders at dawn,

raising therein a trail of dust,

and cleaving therein a host!

Indeed man is ungrateful to his Lord,

and indeed he is [himself] witness to that!

And indeed he is an avid lover of wealth.

Does he not know, when what is [buried] in the graves is turned over,

and what is [concealed] in the breasts is divulged,

on that day their Lord will be well informed about them [and their deeds]?

The Catastrophe!

What is the Catastrophe?

What will show you what is the Catastrophe?

[It is] the day when mankind will be like scattered moths

and the mountains like carded wool.

As for him, whose deeds weigh heavy in the scales,

he will have a pleasing life.

But as for him, whose deeds weigh light in the scales,

his home will be the Abyss.

And what will show you what it is?

It is a scorching fire!

Rivalry [and vainglory] distracted you

until you visited [even] the graves.

No indeed, soon you will know!

No indeed, soon you will know for yet another time!

Indeed, were you to know with certain knowledge,

you would have surely seen hell [in this very life].

Afterward you will surely see it with the eye of certainty.

Then, on that day, you will surely be questioned concerning the Blessing.

By Time!

Man is indeed in loss,

except those who have faith and do righteous deeds, and enjoin one another to [follow] the truth, and enjoin one another to patience.

Woe to every scandal-monger and slanderer,

who amasses wealth and counts it over.

He supposes his wealth will make him immortal!

No indeed! He will surely be cast into the Crusher.

And what will show you what is the Crusher?

[It is] the fire of Allah, set ablaze,

which will overspread the hearts.

Indeed it will close in upon them

in outstretched columns.

Have you not regarded how your Lord dealt with the army of the elephants?

Did He not make their stratagems go awry,

and send against them flocks of birds

pelting them with stones of shale,

thus making them like chewed-up straw?

[In gratitude] for solidarity among the Quraysh,

their solidarity during winter and summer journeys,

let them worship the Lord of this House,

who has fed them [and saved them] from hunger, and secured them from fear.

Did you see him who denies the Retribution?

That is the one, who drives away the orphan,

and does not urge the feeding of the needy.

Woe to those who pray

but are heedless of their prayers

—who show off

but deny aid.

Indeed We have given you abundance.

So pray to your Lord, and sacrifice [the sacrificial camel].

Indeed it is your enemy who is without posterity.

Say, ‘O faithless ones!

I do not worship what you worship,

nor do you worship what I worship;

nor will I worship what you have worshipped,

nor will you worship what I worship.

To you your religion, and to me my religion.’

When Allah’s help comes with victory,

and you see the people entering Allah’s religion in throngs,

celebrate the praise of your Lord, and plead to Him for forgiveness. Indeed, He is all-clement.

Perish the hands of Abu Lahab, and perish he!

Neither his wealth availed him, nor what he had earned.

Soon he will enter the blazing fire,

and his wife [too], the firewood carrier,

with a rope of palm fibre around her neck.

Say, ‘He is Allah, the One.

Allah is the All-embracing.

He neither begat, nor was begotten,

nor has He any equal.’

Say, ‘I seek the protection of the Lord of the daybreak

from the evil of what He has created,

and from the evil of the dark night when it falls,

and from the evil of the witches, who blow on knots,

and from the evil of the envious one when he envies.’

Say, ‘I seek the protection of the Lord of humans,

Sovereign of humans,

God of humans,

from the evil of the sneaky tempter

who puts temptations into the breasts of humans,

from among the jinn and humans.’