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