وَالذَّارِيَاتِ ذَرْوًا
CONSIDER the winds that scatter the dust far and wide, (1)
فَالْحَامِلَاتِ وِقْرًا
and those that carry the burden [of heavy clouds], (2)
فَالْجَارِيَاتِ يُسْرًا
and those that speed along with gentle ease, (3)
فَالْمُقَسِّمَاتِ أَمْرًا
and those that apportion [the gift of life] at [God's] behest! (4)
إِنَّمَا تُوعَدُونَ لَصَادِقٌ
Verily, that which you are promised is true indeed, (5)
وَإِنَّ الدِّينَ لَوَاقِعٌ
and, verily, judgment is bound to come! (6)
وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الْحُبُكِ
CONSIDER the firmament full of starry paths! (7)
إِنَّكُمْ لَفِي قَوْلٍ مُخْتَلِفٍ
Verily, [O men,] you are deeply at variance as to what to believe: (8)
يُؤْفَكُ عَنْهُ مَنْ أُفِكَ
perverted in his views thereon is he who would deceive himself! (9)
قُتِلَ الْخَرَّاصُونَ
They but destroy themselves, they who are given to guessing at what they cannot ascertain (10)
الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي غَمْرَةٍ سَاهُونَ
they who blunder along, in ignorance lost (11)
يَسْأَلُونَ أَيَّانَ يَوْمُ الدِّينِ
they who [mockingly] ask, "When is that Day of Judgment to be?" (12)
يَوْمَ هُمْ عَلَى النَّارِ يُفْتَنُونَ
[It will be] a Day when they will be sorely tried by the fire, (13)
ذُوقُوا فِتْنَتَكُمْ هَٰذَا الَّذِي كُنْتُمْ بِهِ تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ
[and will be told:] "Taste this your trial! It is this that you were so hastily asking for!" (14)
إِنَّ الْمُتَّقِينَ فِي جَنَّاتٍ وَعُيُونٍ
[But,] behold, the God-conscious will find themselves amid gardens and springs, (15)
آخِذِينَ مَا آتَاهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا قَبْلَ ذَٰلِكَ مُحْسِنِينَ
enjoying all that their Sustainer will have granted them [because], verily, they were doers of good in the past: (16)
كَانُوا قَلِيلًا مِنَ اللَّيْلِ مَا يَهْجَعُونَ
they would lie asleep during but a small part of the night, (17)
وَبِالْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ
and would pray for forgiveness from their innermost hearts; (18)
وَفِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ حَقٌّ لِلسَّائِلِ وَالْمَحْرُومِ
and [would assign] in all that they possessed a due share unto such as might ask [for help] and such as might suffer privation. (19)
وَفِي الْأَرْضِ آيَاتٌ لِلْمُوقِنِينَ
AND ON EARTH there are signs [of God's existence, visible] to all who are endowed with inner certainty, (20)
وَفِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَفَلَا تُبْصِرُونَ
just as [there are signs thereof] within your own selves: can you not, then, see? (21)
وَفِي السَّمَاءِ رِزْقُكُمْ وَمَا تُوعَدُونَ
And in heaven is [the source of] your sustenance [on earth] and [of] all that you are promised [for your life after death]: (22)
فَوَرَبِّ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ مِثْلَ مَا أَنَّكُمْ تَنْطِقُونَ
for, by the Sustainer of heaven and earth, this [life after death] is the very truth – as true as that you are endowed with speech! (23)
- for, by the Sustainer of heaven and earth, this [life after death] is the very truth - as true as that you are endowed with speech!15
- 15 Lit., "even as you speak" or "are able to speak": an allusion to man's ability to think conceptually and to express himself - that is, to something of which man is absolutely, axiomatically conscious.
- Then, by the Lord5004 of heaven and earth, this is the very Truth, as much as the fact that ye can speak intelligently to each other.
- 5004 Attention having been called to the Signs or Evidences of Allah's working on the earth, within ourselves, and in the heavens, in verses 20-22, an appeal is made to our own inner conscience, in the name of the Lord of heaven and earth, to acknowledge and act up to the truth of Revelation, and turn to the spiritual Realities. For they are as real as our own conscious and self-intelligent existence, on which is based all our knowledge. As a philosopher (Descartes) has said: "I think; therefore I am."
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Then, by the Lord of heaven and earth, this is the very Truth, as much as the fact that ye can speak intelligently to each other.
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
And by the Lord of the heavens and the earth, it is the truth, even as (it is true) that ye speak.
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
And by the Lord of the heavens and the earth! it is most surely the truth, just as you do speak.
— M. Habib Shakir -
Then, by the Lord of the heaven and the earth, it is the truth (i.e. what has been promised to you), just as it is the truth that you can speak.
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
By the Lord of the heaven and the earth it is sure, even as it is a fact that ye are speaking.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
So by the Lord of heaven and earth, it is as true as your speech.
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
So by the Lord of the heaven and the earth, it is as surely true as that you speak.
— Ayub Khan -
And by the Lord of the heaven and the earth it is certainly the truth, just as it is true that you speak.
— Sher Ali -
for, by the Sustainer of heaven and earth, this [life after death] is the very truth – as true as that you are endowed with speech!
— Muhammad Asad -
So by the Lord of heaven and earth, it is as surely true as that you have speech.
— Arthur Arberry -
So, by the Lord of the heaven and the earth, this is certainly true, as true as the fact of your speaking.
— Abu'l Ala Maududi