الْقَارِعَةُ
OH, the sudden calamity! (1)
مَا الْقَارِعَةُ
How awesome the sudden calamity! (2)
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْقَارِعَةُ
And what could make thee conceive what that sudden calamity will be? (3)
يَوْمَ يَكُونُ النَّاسُ كَالْفَرَاشِ الْمَبْثُوثِ
[It will occur] on the Day when men will be like moths swarming in confusion, (4)
وَتَكُونُ الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ الْمَنْفُوشِ
and the mountains will be like fluffy tufts of wool.... (5)
فَأَمَّا مَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ
And then, he whose weight [of good deeds] is heavy in the balance (6)
فَهُوَ فِي عِيشَةٍ رَاضِيَةٍ
shall find himself in a happy state of life; (7)
وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ
whereas he whose weight is light in the balance (8)
فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ
shall be engulfed by an abyss. (9)
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا هِيَهْ
And what could make thee conceive what that [abyss] will be? (10)
نَارٌ حَامِيَةٌ
A fire hotly burning! (11)
- (It is) a Day whereon men will be like moths scattered about,6252
- 6252 Moths are frail light things. To see them scattered about in a violent storm gives some idea of the confusion, distress, and helplessness in which men will be at first overwhelmed on the Day of Account. Old memories will be like a book almost blotted out. New hopes will be vague in a new world just rising on the horizon. But it will be a perfectly just world, and no good action will be lost and no evil one but will have its compensating value estimated.
-
(It is) a Day whereon men will be like moths scattered about,
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
A day wherein mankind will be as thickly-scattered moths
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
The day on which men shall be as scattered moths,
— M. Habib Shakir -
It is a Day whereon mankind will be like moths scattered about,
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
A Day whereon mankind shall become as moths scattered,
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
On that Day people shall become like scattered moths
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
The day that men shall be like scattered moths,
— Ayub Khan -
The day when men will be like scattered moths,
— Sher Ali -
[It will occur] on the Day when men will be like moths swarming in confusion,
— Muhammad Asad -
The day that men shall be like scattered moths,
— Arthur Arberry -
On that Day human beings shall be like scattered moths,
— Abu'l Ala Maududi