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)
- Nay, were ye to know with certainty of mind,6259 (ye would beware!)
- 6259 Three kinds of yaqin (certainty of knowledge) are described in n. 5673 to 69:51. The first is certainty of mind or inference mentioned here: we hear from someone, or we infer from something we know: this refers to our own state of mind. If we instruct our minds in this way, we should value the deeper things of life better, and not waste all our time in ephemeral things. But if we do not use our reasoning faculties now, we shall yet see with our own eyes, the Penalty for our sins. It will be certainty of sight. We shall see Hell. See next verse. But the absolute certainty of assured Truth is that described in 69:51. That is not liable to any human error or psychological defect.
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Nay, were ye to know with certainty of mind, (ye would beware!)
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
Nay, would that ye knew (now) with a sure knowledge!
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
Nay! if you had known with a certain knowledge,
— M. Habib Shakir -
Nay! If you knew with a sure knowledge (the end result of piling up, you would not have occupied yourselves in worldly things)
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
Lo! would that ye knew now with the surety of knowledge!
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
Indeed, did you know with certain knowledge
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
No indeed; if only you had the knowledge of certainty!
— Ayub Khan -
Nay! if you only knew with certain knowledge;
— Sher Ali -
Nay, if you could but understand [it] with an understanding [born] of certainty,
— Muhammad Asad -
No indeed; did you know with the knowledge of certainty,
— Arthur Arberry -
Nay, would that you knew with certainty of knowledge (what your attitude will lead to, you would never have acted the way you do).
— Abu'l Ala Maududi