وَالسَّمَاءِ وَالطَّارِقِ

CONSIDER the heavens and that which comes in the night! (1)

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الطَّارِقُ

And what could make thee conceive what it is that comes in the night? (2)

النَّجْمُ الثَّاقِبُ

It is the star that pierces through [life's] darkness: (3)

إِنْ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ لَمَّا عَلَيْهَا حَافِظٌ

[for] no human being has ever been left unguarded. (4)

فَلْيَنْظُرِ الْإِنْسَانُ مِمَّ خُلِقَ

LET MAN, then, observe out of what he has been created: (5)

خُلِقَ مِنْ مَاءٍ دَافِقٍ

he has been created out of a seminal fluid (6)

يَخْرُجُ مِنْ بَيْنِ الصُّلْبِ وَالتَّرَائِبِ

issuing from between the loins [of man] and the pelvic arch [of woman]. (7)

إِنَّهُ عَلَىٰ رَجْعِهِ لَقَادِرٌ

Now, verily, He [who thus creates man in the first instance] is well able to bring him back [to life] (8)

يَوْمَ تُبْلَى السَّرَائِرُ

on the Day when all secrets will be laid bare, (9)

فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ قُوَّةٍ وَلَا نَاصِرٍ

and [man] will have neither strength nor helper! (10)

وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الرَّجْعِ

Consider the heavens, ever-revolving, (11)

وَالْأَرْضِ ذَاتِ الصَّدْعِ

and the earth, bursting forth with plants! (12)

إِنَّهُ لَقَوْلٌ فَصْلٌ

BEHOLD, this [divine writ] is indeed a word that cuts between truth and falsehood, (13)

وَمَا هُوَ بِالْهَزْلِ

and is no idle tale. (14)

إِنَّهُمْ يَكِيدُونَ كَيْدًا

Behold, they [who refuse to accept it] devise many a false argument [to disprove its truth]; (15)

فَمَهِّلِ الْكَافِرِينَ أَمْهِلْهُمْ رُوَيْدًا

Let, then, the deniers of the truth have their will: let them have their will for a little while! (17)