وَيْلٌ لِكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ لُمَزَةٍ
WOE unto every slanderer, fault-finder! (1)
الَّذِي جَمَعَ مَالًا وَعَدَّدَهُ
[Woe unto him] who amasses wealth and counts it a safeguard, (2)
يَحْسَبُ أَنَّ مَالَهُ أَخْلَدَهُ
thinking that his wealth will make him live forever! (3)
كَلَّا لَيُنْبَذَنَّ فِي الْحُطَمَةِ
Nay, but [in the life to come such as] he shall indeed be abandoned to crushing torment! (4)
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْحُطَمَةُ
And what could make thee conceive what that crushing torment will be? (5)
نَارُ اللَّهِ الْمُوقَدَةُ
A fire kindled by God, (6)
الَّتِي تَطَّلِعُ عَلَى الْأَفْئِدَةِ
which will rise over the [guilty] hearts: (7)
إِنَّهَا عَلَيْهِمْ مُؤْصَدَةٌ
verily, it will close in upon them (8)
فِي عَمَدٍ مُمَدَّدَةٍ
in endless columns! (9)
- thinking that his wealth will make him live forever!3
- 3 This is a metonym for the tendency to attribute an almost "religious" value to the acquisition and possession of material goods and facilities - a tendency which precludes man from giving any real importance to spiritual considerations (cf. note 1 on 102:1). My rendering of 'addadahu in the preceding verse as "[he] counts it a safeguard" is based on Jawhari's explanation of this term.
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Thinking that his wealth would make him last for ever!
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
He thinketh that his wealth will render him immortal.
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
He thinks that his wealth will make him immortal.
— M. Habib Shakir -
He thinks that his wealth will make him last forever!
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
He bethinketh that his wealth shall abide for him.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
thinking his wealth will render him immortal!
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
He thinks that his wealth will make him immortal.
— Ayub Khan -
He thinks that his wealth will make him immortal.
— Sher Ali -
thinking that his wealth will make him live forever!
— Muhammad Asad -
thinking his riches have made him immortal!
— Arthur Arberry -
He thinks that his wealth will immortalise him forever.{{3}}
— Abu'l Ala Maududi