WHEN THE SKY is split asunder,*
obeying its Sustainer, as in truth it must;
and when the earth is leveled,*
and casts forth whatever is in it, and becomes utterly void,*
obeying its Sustainer, as in truth it must -:
[then,] O man - thou [that] hast, verily, been toiling towards thy Sustainer in painful toil* - then shalt thou meet Him!
And as for him whose record shall be placed in his right hand,*
he will in time be called to account with an easy accounting,
and will [be able to] turn joyfully to those of his own kind.*
But as for him whose record shall be given to him behind his back;*
he will in time pray for utter destruction:
but he will enter the blazing flame.
Behold, [in his earthly life] he lived joyfully among people of his own kind* -
for, behold, he never thought that he would have to return [to God].
Yea indeed! His Sustainer did see all that was in him!
BUT NAY! I call to witness the sunset's [fleeting] afterglow,
and the night, and what it [step by step] unfolds,
and the moon, as it grows to its fullness:*
[even thus, O men,] are you bound to move; onward from stage to stage.*
What, then, is amiss with them that they will not believe [in a life to come]?* -
and [that], when the Qur'an is read unto them, they do not fall down in prostration?*
Nay, but they who are bent on denying the truth give the lie [to this divine writ]!
Yet God has full knowledge of what they conceal [in their hearts].*
Hence, give them the tiding of grievous suffering [in the life to come] -
unless it be such [of them] as [repent, and] attain to faith, and do good works: for theirs shall be a reward unending!