أَلْهَاكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُ
YOU ARE OBSESSED by greed for more and more (1)
حَتَّىٰ زُرْتُمُ الْمَقَابِرَ
until you go down to your graves. (2)
كَلَّا سَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ
Nay, in time you will come to understand! (3)
ثُمَّ كَلَّا سَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ
And once again: Nay, in time you will come to understand! (4)
كَلَّا لَوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عِلْمَ الْيَقِينِ
Nay, if you could but understand [it] with an understanding [born] of certainty, (5)
لَتَرَوُنَّ الْجَحِيمَ
you would indeed, most surely, behold the blazing fire [of hell]! (6)
ثُمَّ لَتَرَوُنَّهَا عَيْنَ الْيَقِينِ
In the end you will indeed, most surely, behold it with the eye of certainty: (7)
ثُمَّ لَتُسْأَلُنَّ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَنِ النَّعِيمِ
and on that Day you will most surely be called to account for [what you did with] the boon of life! (8)
- The mutual rivalry for piling up (the good things of this world) diverts you6257 (from the more serious things),
- 6257 Acquisitiveness, that is, the passion for seeking an increase in wealth, position, the number of adherents or followers or supporters, mass production and mass organisation, may affect an individual as such, or it may affect whole societies or nations. Other people's example or rivalry in such things may aggravate the situation. Up to a certain point it may be good and necessary. But when it becomes inordinate and monopolises attention, it leaves no time for higher things in life, and a clear warning is here sounded from a spiritual point of view. Man may be engrossed in these things till death approaches, and he looks back on a wasted life, as far as the higher things are concerned.
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The mutual rivalry for piling up (the good things of this world) diverts you (from the more serious things),
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
Rivalry in worldly increase distracteth you
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
Abundance diverts you,
— M. Habib Shakir -
The mutual rivalry for piling up of worldly things diverts you,
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
The emulous desire of abundance engrosseth you,
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
The excessive gathering (of increase and boasting) occupied you (from worshipping and obeying)
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
Rivalry diverts you,
— Ayub Khan -
Mutual rivalry in seeking increase in worldly possessions diverts you from God,
— Sher Ali -
YOU ARE OBSESSED by greed for more and more
— Muhammad Asad -
Gross rivalry diverts you,
— Arthur Arberry -
The craving for ever-greater worldly gains and to excel others in that regard keeps you occupied{{1}}
— Abu'l Ala Maududi