| asad | |
|---|---|
| 1. * | CONSIDER the daybreak |
| 2. * | and the ten nights!* |
| 3. * | Consider the multiple and the One!* |
| 4. * | Consider the night as it runs its course!* |
| 5. * | Considering all this - could there be, to anyone endowed with reason, a [more] solemn evidence of the truth?* |
| 6. * | ART THOU NOT aware of how thy Sustainer has dealt with [the tribe of] `Ad,* |
| 7. * | [the people of] Iram the many-pillared, |
| 8. * | the like of whom has never been reared in all the land? - |
| 9. * | and with [the tribe of] Thamud,* who hollowed out rocks in the valley? - |
| 10. * | and with Pharaoh of the [many] tent-poles?* |
| 11. * | [It was they] who transgressed all bounds of equity all over their lands, |
| 12. * | and brought about great corruption therein: |
| 13. * | and therefore thy Sustainer let loose upon them a scourge of suffering: |
| 14. * | for, verily, thy Sustainer is ever on the watch! |
| 15. * | BUT AS FOR man, whenever his Sustainer tries him by His generosity and by letting him enjoy a life of ease, he says, "My Sustainer has been [justly] generous towards me";* |
| 16. * | whereas, whenever He tries him by straitening his means of livelihood, he says, "My Sustainer has disgraced me!"* |
| 17. * | But nay, nay, [O men, consider all that you do and fail to do:] you are not generous towards the orphan, |
| 18. * | and you do not urge one another to feed the needy,* |
| 19. * | and you devour the inheritance [of others] with devouring greed, |
| 20. * | and you love wealth with boundless love! |
| 21. * | Nay, but [how will you fare on Judgment Day,] when the earth is crushed with crushing upon crushing, |
| 22. * | and [the majesty of] thy Sustainer stands revealed,* as well as [the true nature of] the angels; rank upon rank? |
| 23. * | And on that Day hell will be brought [within sight]; on that Day man will remember [all that he did and failed to do]: but what will that remembrance avail him? |
| 24. * | He will say, "Oh, would that I had. provided beforehand for my life [to come]!" |
| 25. * | For, none can make suffer as He will make suffer [the sinners] on that Day, |
| 26. * | and none can bind with bonds like His.* |
| 27. * | [But unto the righteous God will say,] "O thou human being that hast attained to inner peace! |
| 28. * | Return thou unto thy Sustainer, well-pleased [and] pleasing [Him]: |
| 29. * | enter, then, together with My [other true] servants - |
| 30. * | yea, enter thou My paradise!" |