عَمَّ يَتَسَاءَلُونَ
ABOUT WHAT do they [most often] ask one another? (1)
عَنِ النَّبَإِ الْعَظِيمِ
About the awesome tiding [of resurrection], (2)
الَّذِي هُمْ فِيهِ مُخْتَلِفُونَ
on which they [so utterly] disagree. (3)
كَلَّا سَيَعْلَمُونَ
Nay, but in time they will come to understand [it]! (4)
ثُمَّ كَلَّا سَيَعْلَمُونَ
And once again: Nay, but in time they will come to understand! (5)
أَلَمْ نَجْعَلِ الْأَرْضَ مِهَادًا
HAVE WE NOT made the earth a resting-place [for you], (6)
وَالْجِبَالَ أَوْتَادًا
and the mountains [its] pegs? (7)
وَخَلَقْنَاكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا
And We have created you in pairs; (8)
وَجَعَلْنَا نَوْمَكُمْ سُبَاتًا
and We have made your sleep [a symbol of] death (9)
وَجَعَلْنَا اللَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا
and made the night [its] cloak (10)
وَجَعَلْنَا النَّهَارَ مَعَاشًا
and made the day [a symbol of] life. (11)
وَبَنَيْنَا فَوْقَكُمْ سَبْعًا شِدَادًا
And We have built above you seven firmaments, (12)
وَجَعَلْنَا سِرَاجًا وَهَّاجًا
and have placed [therein the sun,] a lamp full of blazing splendour. (13)
وَأَنْزَلْنَا مِنَ الْمُعْصِرَاتِ مَاءً ثَجَّاجًا
And from the wind-driven clouds We send down waters pouring in abundance, (14)
لِنُخْرِجَ بِهِ حَبًّا وَنَبَاتًا
so that We might bring forth thereby grain, and herbs, (15)
وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا
and gardens dense with foliage. (16)
إِنَّ يَوْمَ الْفَصْلِ كَانَ مِيقَاتًا
VERILY, the Day of Distinction [between the true and the false] has indeed its appointed time: (17)
يَوْمَ يُنْفَخُ فِي الصُّورِ فَتَأْتُونَ أَفْوَاجًا
the Day when the trumpet [of resurrection] is sounded and you all come forward in multitudes; (18)
وَفُتِحَتِ السَّمَاءُ فَكَانَتْ أَبْوَابًا
and when the skies are opened and become [as wide-flung] gates; (19)
وَسُيِّرَتِ الْجِبَالُ فَكَانَتْ سَرَابًا
and when the mountains are made to vanish as if they had been a mirage. (20)
إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ كَانَتْ مِرْصَادًا
[On that Day,] verily, hell will lie in wait [for those who deny the truth] – (21)
لِلطَّاغِينَ مَآبًا
a goal for all who are wont to transgress the bounds of what is right! (22)
لَابِثِينَ فِيهَا أَحْقَابًا
In it shall they remain for a long time. (23)
لَا يَذُوقُونَ فِيهَا بَرْدًا وَلَا شَرَابًا
Neither coolness shall they taste therein nor any [thirst-quenching] drink – (24)
إِلَّا حَمِيمًا وَغَسَّاقًا
only burning despair and ice-cold darkness: (25)
جَزَاءً وِفَاقًا
a meet requital [for their sins]! (26)
إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا لَا يَرْجُونَ حِسَابًا
Behold, they were not expecting to be called to account, (27)
وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا كِذَّابًا
having given the lie to Our messages one and all: (28)
وَكُلَّ شَيْءٍ أَحْصَيْنَاهُ كِتَابًا
but We have placed on record every single thing [of what they did]. (29)
فَذُوقُوا فَلَنْ نَزِيدَكُمْ إِلَّا عَذَابًا
[And so We shall say:] "Taste, then, [the fruit of your evil doings,] for now We shall bestow on you nothing but more and more suffering!" (30)
- and when the skies are opened and become [as wide-flung] gates;10
- 10 Allegorically, "its mysteries will be opened to man's understanding" - thus further amplifying the concept of "the Day of Distinction between the true and the false".
- And the heavens shall be opened as if there were doors,5898
- 5898 A sign that the present order of things will have ceased to exist, and a new world will have come into being. Such a figure applies to the heavens in this verse and to the earth in the next verse. The mystery of what is beyond the heavens will have vanished through the doors which will then be opened. The solid mountains, as we suppose them to be, will have vanished like an unsubstantial mirage.
-
And the heavens shall be opened as if there were doors,
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
And the heaven is opened and becometh as gates,
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
And the heaven shall be opened so that it shall be all openings,
— M. Habib Shakir -
And the heaven shall be opened, and it will become as gates,
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
And the heaven will have been opened, and it will have become doors.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
and heaven is opened, having gates,
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
and the heaven is opened, and becomes gates,
— Ayub Khan -
And the heaven shall be opened and shall become all doors.
— Sher Ali -
and when the skies are opened and become [as wide-flung] gates;
— Muhammad Asad -
and heaven is opened, and become gates,
— Arthur Arberry -
and when the sky shall be opened up and will become all doors;
— Abu'l Ala Maududi