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1. * |
CONSIDER those [stars] that rise only to set, [2]1
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2. * |
and move [in their orbits] with steady motion, [3]2
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3. * |
and float [through space] with floating serene,
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4. * |
and yet overtake [one another] with swift overtaking: [4]3
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5. * |
and thus they fulfil the [Creator's] behest!
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6. * |
[HENCE, [5]4 think of] the Day when a violent convulsion will convulse [the world],
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7. * |
to be followed by further [convulsions]!
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8. * |
On that Day will [men's] hearts be throbbing,
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9. * |
[and] their eyes downcast. . .
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10. * |
[And yet,] some say, "What! Are we indeed to be restored to our former state -
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11. * |
even though we may have become [a heap of] crumbling bones?"
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12. * |
[And] they add, "That, then, would be a return with loss!" [6]5
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13. * |
[But,] then, that [Last Hour] will be [upon them of a sudden, as if it were] but a single accusing cry -
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14. * |
and then, lo, they will be fully awakened [to the truth]!
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15. * |
HAS THE STORY of Moses ever come within thy ken. [7]6
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16. * |
Lo! His Sustainer called out to him in the twice-hallowed valley: [8]7
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17. * |
"Go unto Pharaoh - for, verily, he has transgressed all bounds of what is right -
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18. * |
and say[unto him], 'Art thou desirous of attaining to purity?
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19. * |
[If so,] then I shall guide thee towards [a cognition of] thy Sustainer, so that [henceforth] thou wilt stand in awe [of Him].'" [9]8
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20. * |
And thereupon he [went to Pharaoh and] made him aware of the great wonder [of God's grace]. [10]9
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21. * |
But [Pharaoh] gave him the lie and rebelliously rejected [all guidance],
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22. * |
and brusquely turned his back [on Moses];
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23. * |
and then he gathered [his great ones], and called [unto his people],
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24. * |
and said, "I am your Lord All-Highest!" [11]10
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25. * |
And thereupon God took him to task, [and made him] a warning example in the life to come as well as in this world. [12]11
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26. * |
In this, behold, there is a lesson indeed for all who stand in awe [of God].
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27. * |
[O MEN!] Are you more difficult to create than the heaven which He has built? [13]12
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28. * |
High has He reared its vault and formed it in accordance with what it was meant to be; [14]13
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29. * |
and He has made dark its night and brought forth its light of day.
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30. * |
And after that, the earth: wide has He spread its expanse,
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31. * |
and has caused its waters to come out of it, and its pastures, [15]14
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32. * |
and has made the mountains firm:
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33. * |
[all this] as a means of livelihood for you and your animals. [16]15
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34. * |
AND SO, when the great overwhelming event [of, resurrection] comes to pass -
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35. * |
on that Day man will [clearly] remember all that he has ever wrought;
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36. * |
and the blazing fire [of hell] will be lad open before all who [are destined to] see it. [17]16
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37. * |
For, unto him who shall have transgressed the bounds of what is right,
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38. * |
and preferred the life of this world [to the good of his soul],
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39. * |
that blazing fire will truly be the goal!
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40. * |
But unto him who shall have stood in fear of his Sustainer's Presence, and held back his inner self from base desires,
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41. * |
paradise will truly be the goal!
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42. * |
THEY WILL ASK thee [O Prophet] about the Last Hour: "When will it come to pass?"
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43. * |
[But] how couldst thou tell anything about it, [18]17
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44. * |
[seeing that] with thy Sustainer alone rests the beginning and the end [of all knowledge] thereof? [19]18
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45. * |
Thou art but [sent] to warn those who stand in awe of it.
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46. * |
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! [20]19
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