| rodwell | |
|---|---|
| 1. * | WHEN the day that must come shall have come suddenly, |
| 2. * | None shall treat that sudden coming as a lie: |
| 3. * | Day that shall abase! Day that shall exalt! |
| 4. * | When the earth shall be shaken with a shock, |
| 5. * | And the mountains shall be crumbled with a crumbling, |
| 6. * | And shall become scattered dust, |
| 7. * | And into three bands shall ye be divided: |
| 8. * | Then the people of the right hand-Oh! how happy shall be the people of the right hand! |
| 9. * | And the people of the left hand-Oh! how wretched shall be the people of the left hand! |
| 10. * | And they who were foremost on earth-the foremost still. |
| 11. * | These are they who shall be brought nigh to God, |
| 12. * | In gardens of delight; |
| 13. * | A crowd of the former |
| 14. * | And few of the latter generations; |
| 15. * | On inwrought couches |
| 16. * | Reclining on them face to face: |
| 17. * | Aye-blooming youths go round about to them |
| 18. * | With goblets and ewers and a cup of flowing wine; |
| 19. * | Their brows ache not from it, nor fails the sense: |
| 20. * | And with such fruits as shall please them best, |
| 21. * | And with flesh of such birds, as they shall long for: |
| 22. * | And theirs shall be the Houris, with large dark eyes, |
| 23. * | like pearls hidden in their shells, |
| 24. * | In recompense of their labours past. |
| 25. * | No vain discourse shall they hear therein, nor charge of sin, |
| 26. * | But only the cry, "Peace! Peace!" |
| 27. * | And the people of the right hand-oh! how happy shall be the people of the right hand! |
| 28. * | Amid thornless sidrahs |
| 29. * | And talh trees clad with fruit, |
| 30. * | And in extended shade, |
| 31. * | And by flowing waters, |
| 32. * | And with abundant fruits, |
| 33. * | Unfailing, unforbidden, |
| 34. * | And on lofty couches. |
| 35. * | Of a rare creation have we created the Houris, |
| 36. * | And we have made them ever virgins, |
| 37. * | Dear to their spouses, of equal age with them, |
| 38. * | For the people of the right hand, |
| 39. * | A crowd of the former, |
| 40. * | And a crowd of the latter generations. |
| 41. * | But the people of the left hand-oh! how wretched shall be the people of the left hand! |
| 42. * | Amid pestilential winds and in scalding water, |
| 43. * | And in the shadow of a black smoke, |
| 44. * | Not cool, and horrid to behold. |
| 45. * | For they truly, ere this, were blessed with worldly goods, |
| 46. * | But persisted in heinous sin, |
| 47. * | And were wont to say, What! after we have died, and become dust and bones, shall we be raised? |
| 48. * | And our fathers, the men of yore? |
| 49. * | SAY: Aye, the former and the latter: |
| 50. * | Gathered shall they all be for the time of a known day. |
| 51. * | Then ye, O ye the erring, the gainsaying, |
| 52. * | Shall surely eat of the tree Ez-zakkoum, |
| 53. * | And fill your bellies with it, |
| 54. * | And thereupon shall ye drink boiling water, |
| 55. * | And ye shall drink as the thirsty camel drinketh. |
| 56. * | This shall be their repast in the day of reckoning! |
| 57. * | We created you, will ye not credit us? |
| 58. * | What think ye? The germs of life- |
| 59. * | Is it ye who create them? or are we their creator? |
| 60. * | It is we who have decreed that death should be among you; |
| 61. * | Yet are we not thereby hindered from replacing you with others, your likes, or from producing you again in a form which ye know not! |
| 62. * | Ye have known the first creation: will ye not then reflect? |
| 63. * | What think ye? That which ye sow- |
| 64. * | Is it ye who cause its upgrowth, or do we cause it to spring forth? |
| 65. * | If we pleased we could so make your harvest dry and brittle that ye would ever marvel and say, |
| 66. * | Truly we have been at cost, |
| 67. * | yet are we forbidden harvest. |
| 68. * | What think ye of the water ye drink? |
| 69. * | Is it ye who send it down from the clouds, or send we it down? |
| 70. * | Brackish could we make it, if we pleased: will ye not then be thankful? |
| 71. * | What think ye? The fire which ye obtain by friction- |
| 72. * | Is it ye who rear its tree, or do we rear it? |
| 73. * | It is we who have made it for a memorial and a benefit to the wayfarers of the desert, |
| 74. * | Praise therefore the name of thy Lord, the Great. |
| 75. * | It needs not that I swear by the setting of the stars, |
| 76. * | And it is a great oath, if ye knew it, |
| 77. * | That this is the honourable Koran, |
| 78. * | Written in the preserved Book: |
| 79. * | Let none touch it but the purified, |
| 80. * | It is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds. |
| 81. * | Such tidings as these will ye disdain? |
| 82. * | Will ye make it your daily bread to gainsay them? |
| 83. * | Why, at the moment when the soul of a dying man shall come up into his throat, |
| 84. * | And when ye are gazing at him, |
| 85. * | Though we are nearer to him than ye, although ye see us not:- |
| 86. * | Why do ye not, if ye are to escape the judgment, |
| 87. * | Cause that soul to return? Tell me, if ye speak the truth. |
| 88. * | But as to him who shall enjoy near access to God, |
| 89. * | His shall be repose, and pleasure, and a garden of delights. |
| 90. * | Yea, for him who shall be of the people of the right hand, |
| 91. * | Shall be the greeting from the people of the right hand-"Peace be to thee." |
| 92. * | But for him who shall be of those who treat the prophets as deceivers, And of the erring, |
| 93. * | His entertainment shall be of scalding water, |
| 94. * | And the broiling of hell-fire. |
| 95. * | Verily this is a certain truth: |
| 96. * | Praise therefore the name of thy Lord, the Great. |