وَالشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا
CONSIDER the sun and its radiant brightness, (1)
وَالْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَاهَا
and the moon as it reflects the sun! (2)
وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّاهَا
Consider the day as it reveals the world, (3)
وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَاهَا
and the night as it veils it darkly! (4)
وَالسَّمَاءِ وَمَا بَنَاهَا
Consider the sky and its wondrous make, (5)
وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا طَحَاهَا
and the earth and all its expanse! (6)
وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا
Consider the human self, and how it is formed in accordance with what it is meant to be, (7)
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا
and how it is imbued with moral failings as well as with consciousness of God! (8)
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا
To a happy state shall indeed attain he who causes this [self] to grow in purity, (9)
وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا
and truly lost is he who buries it [in darkness]. (10)
كَذَّبَتْ ثَمُودُ بِطَغْوَاهَا
TO [THIS] TRUTH gave the lie, in their overweening arrogance, [the tribe of] Thamūd, (11)
إِذِ انْبَعَثَ أَشْقَاهَا
when that most hapless wretch from among them rushed forward [to commit his evil deed], (12)
فَقَالَ لَهُمْ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ نَاقَةَ اللَّهِ وَسُقْيَاهَا
although God's apostle had told them, "It is a she-camel belonging to God, so let her drink [and do her no harm]!" (13)
فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَعَقَرُوهَا فَدَمْدَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّهُمْ بِذَنْبِهِمْ فَسَوَّاهَا
But they gave him the lie, and cruelly slaughtered her – whereupon their Sustainer visited them with utter destruction for this their sin, destroying them all alike: (14)
وَلَا يَخَافُ عُقْبَاهَا
for none [of them] had any fear of what might befall them. (15)
- Consider the sky and its wondrous make,3
- 3 Lit., "and that which has built it" - i.e., the wondrous qualities which are responsible for the harmony and coherence of the visible cosmos (which is evidently the meaning of the term sama' in this context). Similarly, the subsequent reference to the earth, which reads literally, "that which has spread it out", is apparently an allusion to the qualities responsible for the beauty and variety of its expanse.
- By the Firmament6150 and its (wonderful) structure;6151
- 6150 The next contrasted pair is the wonderful firmament on high, and the earth below our feet, stretching away to our wide horizons. The sky gives us rain, and the earth gives us food. Yet both work together: for the rain is moisture sucked up from the earth, and the food cannot grow without the heat and warmth of the sun. There are many other contrasts under this head; yet they all point to unity.
- 6151 The ma masdariyah in Arabic, in this and the subsequent clauses, is best translated in English by nouns. Thus what would literally be "and the (wonderful) making or construction of it" or "the fact of its (wonderful) construction" is, idiomatically, "its (wonderful) structure." "The (wide) spreading out" of the earth is rendered "its (wide) expanse," and so on.
-
By the Firmament and its (wonderful) structure;
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
And the heaven and Him Who built it,
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
And the heaven and Him Who made it,
— M. Habib Shakir -
And by the heaven and Him Who built it;
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
By the heaven and Him Who builded it,
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
By the heaven and Who built it,
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
by the heaven and that which He built,
— Ayub Khan -
And by the heaven and its wonderful structure.
— Sher Ali -
Consider the sky and its wondrous make,
— Muhammad Asad -
By the heaven and That which built it
— Arthur Arberry -
and by the sky and by Him Who made it;{{3}}
— Abu'l Ala Maududi