| asad | |
|---|---|
| 1. * | O THOU [in thy solitude] enfolded! [2]1 |
| 2. * | Arise and warn! |
| 3. * | And thy Sustainer's greatness glorify! |
| 4. * | And thine inner self purify! [3]2 |
| 5. * | And all defilement shun! |
| 6. * | And do not through giving seek thyself to gain, [4]3 |
| 7. * | but unto thy Sustainer turn in patience. |
| 8. * | And [warn all men that] when the trumpet-call [of resurrection] is sounded, |
| 9. * | that very Day shall be a day of anguish, |
| 10. * | not of ease, for all who [now] deny the truth! [5]4 |
| 11. * | LEAVE Me alone [to deal] with him whom I have created alone, [6]5 |
| 12. * | and to whom I have granted resources vast, |
| 13. * | and children as [love's] witnesses, |
| 14. * | and to whose life I gave so wide a scope: [7]6 |
| 15. * | and yet, he greedily desires that I give yet more! |
| 16. * | Nay, verily, it is against Our messages that he knowingly, stubbornly sets himself^ [8]7 |
| 17. * | [and so] I shall constrain him to endure a painful uphill climb! [9]8 |
| 18. * | Behold, [when Our messages are conveyed to one who is bent on denying the truth,] he reflects and meditates [as to how to disprove them] - |
| 19. * | and thus he destroys himself, [10]9 the way he meditates: |
| 20. * | yea, he destroys himself, the way he meditates! |
| 21. * | and then he looks [around for new arguments], |
| 22. * | and then he frowns and glares, [11]10 |
| 23. * | and in the end he turns his back [on Our message], and glories in his arrogance, [12]11 |
| 24. * | and says, "All this is mere spellbinding eloquence handed down [from olden times]! [13]12 |
| 25. * | This is nothing but the word of mortal man!" |
| 26. * | [Hence,] I shall cause him to endure hell-fire [in the life to come]! [14]13 |
| 27. * | And what could make thee conceive what hell-fire is? |
| 28. * | It does not allow to live, and neither leaves [to die], |
| 29. * | making [all truth] visible to mortal man. [15]14 |
| 30. * | Over it are nineteen [powers]. [16]15 |
| 31. * | For We have caused none but angelic powers to lord over the fire [of hell]; [17]16 and We have not caused their number to be aught but a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth [18]17 - to the end that they who have been granted revelation aforetime might be convinced [of the truth of this divine writ]; [19]18 and that they who have attained to faith [in it] might grow yet more firm in their faith; and that [both] they who have been granted the earlier revelation and they who believe [in this one] might be freed of all doubt; and that they in whose hearts is disease^ [20]19 and the who deny the truth outright might ask, "What does [your] God mean by this parable?" [21]20 In this way God lets go astray him that wills [to go astray], and guides aright him that wills [to be guided]. [22]21 And none can comprehend thy Sustainers forces save Him alone: and all this [23]22 is but a reminder to mortal man. |
| 32. * | NAY, but consider the moon! [24]23 |
| 33. * | Consider the night when it departs, |
| 34. * | and the morn when it dawns! |
| 35. * | Verily, that [hell-fire) is Indeed one of the great [forewarnings] - |
| 36. * | a warning to mortal man - |
| 37. * | to everyone of you, whether he chooses to come forward or to hang back! [25]24 |
| 38. * | [On the Day of Judgment,] every human being will be held in pledge for whatever [evil] he has wrought - |
| 39. * | save those who shall have attained to righteousness: [26]25 |
| 40. * | [dwelling] In gardens [of paradise], they will inquire |
| 41. * | of those who were lost in sin: |
| 42. * | "What has brought you into hell-fire?" |
| 43. * | They will answer: "We were not among those who prayed; [27]26 |
| 44. * | and neither did we feed the needy; |
| 45. * | and we were wont to indulge in sinning together with all [the others] who indulged in it; |
| 46. * | and the Day of Judgment we were wont to call a lie - |
| 47. * | until certainty came upon us [in death]." |
| 48. * | And so, of no benefit to them could be the intercession of any that would intercede for them. [28]27 |
| 49. * | WHAT, THEN, is amiss with them [29]28 that they turn away from all admonition |
| 50. * | as though they were terrified asses |
| 51. * | fleeing from a lion? |
| 52. * | Yea, everyone of them claims that he [himself] ought to have been given revelations unfolded! [30]29 |
| 53. * | Nay, but they do not [believe in and, hence, do not] fear the life to come. |
| 54. * | Nay, verily, this is an admonition - |
| 55. * | and whoever wills may take it to heart. |
| 56. * | But they [who do not believe in the life to come] will not take it to heart unless God so wills: [31]30 [for] He is the Fount of all God-consciousness, and the Fount of all forgiveness. |