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Recite! O Mohammed, in the name of thy Lord, who has created, Created man from blood-clots.¹ Recite! seeing that thy Lord is the most generous, Who has taught by the pen, Taught man what he did not know.² Nay, indeed, man assuredly acts insolently Because he considers himself self-sufficient. Verily, to thy Lord is the return.

Hast thou considered, O Mohammed, him who hinders A servant when he is saying prayers³? Hast thou considered if he is in the way of guidance, Or is commanding piety? Hast thou considered if he counted the message false and turned away? Did he not know that Allah sees? Nay, indeed, if he desist not We shall drag him by the forelock, A lying, sinfull forelock. So let him summon his party, We shall summon the Zabaniyya.⁴ Nay, indeed, obey him not, but do obeisance to Allah and draw near.

¹ alaqa is to mean a minute nodule of clotted blood. The word is used in other passages which deal with the process of human reproduction, and seems intended to represent the earliest stage of formation of the embryo in the womb.

² Some suggest that this refers to the art of writing. Others, with more likelihood, take it to mean that through the pen He was able to teach men by Scripture-revelation, gathered and written down, many things they would otherwise never have known.

³ The servant is usually considered to be Mohammed, but it is much more likely that the reference is to some humble member of the Prophet's following.

⁴ The Zabaniyya are said to be the infernal assistant of Malik (=Moloch), the Grand Chamberlain of Hell. This, is the sole occurrence of the word in the Koran.

O thou who enwrappest thyself in a mantle, Arise! Warn! And thy Lord, magnify Him,¹ And thy garments, purify them, And the wrath, flee from it, And do not do favours in order to seek increase, But for thy Lord wait patiently.

So when there shall come a trump on the Trumpet,² That then will be a difficult Day, For the unbelievers it will be far from easy.

Leave Me alone with him whom I have created, Since I have appointed for him extensive wealth, And sons as witnesses, And I have smoothed out everything for him smoothly - Then is he covetous that do more. Nay, indeed, he at Our signs was obstinate, But I shall overtake him with something grievously difficult.

He, indeed, thought and pondered. Death to him! how he pondered. Then, death to him! how he pondered. Then he looked; Then he frowned and looked crossly; Then he turned

¹ kabbie, lit. "make great," later came to mean "repeat the words Allahu akbar, ‘Allah is very great,'" whence comes the technical term takbir, the pious act of ascribing greatness to Allah, i.e., "to magnify Him".

² naqur, which is used only here for the trumpet on which the blast of Doom is sounded, and which is elsewhere generally called sur.

his back and showed pride, And said: "This is naught but magic being employed; This is naught but human speech." I shall roast him at Saqar.¹ And what will teach thee what were considered Saqar is? It lets nothing remain, and desists not, Scorching the skins.² Over it are nineteen.³ We have not set as masters of the Fire any save angels, nor have We fixed their number save as a testing for those who disbelieve, that those who have been given the Book [the Jews and Christians] may be certain, and that those who believe [the Moslems] may increase in belief, that those who have been given the Book and the believers may not be in doubt, and that those in whose hearts is disease, and the unbelievers, may say: "What does Allah mean by such a similitude as this?"

Thus does Allah lead astray whom He will and guide whom He will. Yet no one knows the hosts of thy Lord save Him Himself so this is naught but a reminder to humans.

Nay, indeed, by the moon, By the night when it retreats, By the morning when it shines bright, It⁴ is one of the great things, A warning to humans, To whosoever among you wishes to push forward or to lag behind. Every soul for what it has gained is a pledge, Except the Companions of the Right Hand (the Blessed]. In celestial gardens they will be asking one another About the sinners. They will ask them: "What led you into Saqar?" They [the sinners] will say: "We were not of those who prayed, Nor were we feeding the unfortunate, But we were engaging in dispute with those who so engaged, And we were treating as false the Day of Judgment, Until the certainty⁵ came upon us." So the intercession of those who intercede will benefit them not.

Now what is the matter with them that they are turning from the reminder? As though they were startled asses Who flee from a lion. Yet every man among them desires that he

¹ Saqar is one of the several names for Hell-fire, coming from a root meaning "to scotch." Tradition says that these 16 verses refer to Walid b. Mughira, a Meccan opponent of the Prophet.

² There is a play of words here, for bashar, "epidermis," is the same word as was used for "a human" four lines back.

³ The "nineteen" are said to refer to the Zabaniyya of Sura 96, and the next three sentences seem to be a reply to those who have been discussing this matter of the guardians of Hell and the peculiar number of them.

⁴ Some refer the pronoun here to the reminder, others to Saqar.

⁵ I.e., death, which is a certainty for all.

be given scrolls unfolded. Nay, indeed, but they do not fear the hereafter. Nay, indeed, it [Mohammed's message] is a reminder, And he who wills will remember it, But they will not remember save should Allah so will. He is worthy of your piety, and He is worthy to forgive.

For the uniting together of Koreish, For their uniting for the winter and the summer caravan journey, So let them worship the Lord of this House,¹ Who has given them provision of food against hunger, And made them secure from fear.

¹ I.e., the Kaaba, the central shrine at Mecca. In old Arabic, bait, "house," was used of sanctuaries just as was the Hebrew beth, as in Beth-el, a usage we still conserve in our "House of God."

We, indeed, have given thee abundance,¹ So pray to thy Lord, and offer sacrifice. Truly the one who hates thee is the one who will be childless².

Woe to every backbiter, maligner, Who gathers wealth and hoards it up. He thinks that his wealth has made him immortal. Nay, indeed, but he will assuredly be flung into

¹ This is commonly taken to be the name of a river in Paradise (al-Kawthar), which will be specially reserved for the use of Mohammed and his community in the next life. This, however, is a late conceit.

² Lit. "tailless", used of an animal whose tail has been docked. Some think that this enemy had taunted Mohammed with the fact that he had no male children surviving, a state of affairs which was a great disgrace among the Arabs.

al-Hutama. And what will teach thee what al-Hutama is? It is Allah's kindled fire Which mounts up over the hearts. Verily it shall be a vault over them In outstretched columns of flame.

Hast thou not seen, O Mohammed, how thy Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant? Did He not set their scheming all astray? He sent against them birds in flocks,¹ Which pelted them with stones of hardened clay, And thus made them like grain stalks eaten down.

¹ The word ababil occurs only here in the Koran and the translation is no more than a guess. Some Moslem commentators say that it is the name of the species of bird sent by Allah to drop clay pellets on Abraham's army and destroying it. The Egyptian sheikh Tantaw Jawhari, who died not many years ago, claimed that this is the first recorded case of aerial bombing in warfare.

By the night when it spreads its veil, By the day when it brightly shines, By Him who created the male and the female, Your course,¹ indeed, is diverse. So as for him who gives in charity and acts piously And puts his trust in that which is best, His path to ease We shall facilitate. But as for him who is niggardly, yet boasts in his riches And treats the best as a lie, We shall facilitate his path to lack of ease, And not a whit will his wealth profit him when he falls. It is Ours to give guidance, For to Us, indeed, belong both the Last and the First.

So I give you warning of a Fire that blazes, None will be roasted thereat save the one, most wretched, Who has counted the message false and has turned away. But the one who is truly pious will avoid it, He who gives his wealth in charity to purify himself, And is under obligation to no one for a favour that is to be recompensed, Desiring only the face of his Lord, the Most High, So anon he will assuredly be well-

¹ sa'y is lit. "running," but is used for a man's life endeavor, and so means his life "course." What follows is a Koranic version of the famous doctrine of the Two Paths found in so many religious texts from the ancient Near East.

I swear not¹ by this land, And thou art a free inhabitant in this land, Nor by a parent and what he has begotten. We, indeed, have created man in trouble. Does he think that no one will ever have power over him? He says; "I have squandered enormous wealth." Does he think that no one saw him? Did We not give him his two eyes, And a tongue, and two lips? And give him guidance to the two highways?² But he has made no attempt at the steep. And what will teach thee what the steep is? It is the setting free of someone in bondage, Or feeding someone in a day of famine, An orphan who is near of kin, Or some unfortunate person in destitution. Then to be, besides, one of those who believe, and who counsel one another to endure patiently, and counsel one another to compassionateness. These are the Companions of the Right Hand. But those who disbelieve in Our signs, they are the Companions of the Left Hand, Upon whom will come a fire that is closed in.

¹ Some authorities say that the particle la here and in the third verse is not the negative particle, but merely strengthens the oath i.e., "I swear, indeed by this land."

² najd means an elevated path; aqaba in the next line means a steep mountain path. So here we have another statement of the doctrine of the Two Paths, the easy path of indulgence and the difficult path of duty and endeavor.

Have We not expanded for thee, O Mohammed, thy breast? And removed from thee thy burden of guilt¹. Which was breaking thy back? And have We not raised for thee thy reputation? Now, verily, along with difficulty there comes ease, Verily along with difficulty there comes ease, So whenever thou art free, prosecute diligently thy task,² And to thy Lord make supplication.

¹ wizr means "burden," but in the Koran it is used technically of that burden which Mohammed insists no soul can bear for another, i.e., the burden of sin and guilt.

² This verse may mean: "When thou hast finished with thy preaching be diligent in thy praying."

By the bright morn, And by the night when all is still, Thy Lord has not left thee, nor come to dislike thee. So the latter situation will be better for thee than the former, And thy Lord anon will assuredly give to thee that which thou desirest, so that thou wilt be well content. Did He not find thee an orphan and shelter thee? Did He not find thee erring and to guide thee? Did He not find thee poor and enrich thee? So as for the orphan, treat him not harshly, And as for the beggar, do not drive him away, And as for thy Lord's bounty, tell of it.

We, indeed, sent it down on the Night of Power. And what will teach thee what the Night of Power is? The Night

of Power is better than a thousand months; The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by permission of their Lord, about every matter. Peace it is till the breaking of the dawn.

By the heaven, and by the Tariq. And what will teach thee what the Tariq is? It is the shining star.¹ Assuredly each soul has over it a guardian. Let man then look at that from which he was created. He was created from water² that pours forth, Which comes from between the loins and the ribs. He [Allah] is quite capable of bringing him back On the Day when the secrets will be tried, And he will have no strength and no helper.

By the heaven which has its return, And by the earth which has its splitting,³ It [the Prophet's message] is indeed a saying, a statement, It is no piece of frivolity. It is they who are devising a stratagem, And I, Allah, shall devise a stratagem also. So do thou show force to the unbelievers; grant them a little respite.

¹ Some people think that the reference is to the morning or the evening star, others that it means some shooting star or meteor. The word is translated "shining" might also have been translated "burning," and another possible meaning from the same root is "piercing."

² ma' is the word for "water," but it is often used for "semen," though some lexicographers think that meaning is derived from its use in this passage.

³ The "return" in the preceding verse is said to refer to the annual recurrence of the celestial phenomena, and the "splitting" to the annual return of the vegetation shooting up through the soil.

By the sun and its morning brightness, By the moon when along after, By the day when it reveals its [the sun's] splendour, By the night when it enshrouds it, By the heaven and Him who ¹ built it, By the earth and Him who spread it forth, By a soul and Him who fashioned it And implanted within it its wickedness and its piety, He has prospered indeed who has kept it pure, And he has failed indeed who has corrupted it.

Thamud ² in their presumptuousness counted the message false, When the most wretched of them was sent.³ Allah's messenger said to them: "The she-camel of Allah and her drinking." But they counted him as false and hamstrung her, whereat their Lord destroyed them in their sin, treating all alike, Nor did He fear the outcome thereof.

¹ ma means "what" or "that which," but here, as in many other passages, it is necessary to translate it "Him who," since the reference is obviously to Allah. The reason for the "that which" seems to be that it refers more particularly to the instrument whereby Allah, performed the various act of creation.

² The story of Thamud is mentioned more than twenty times in the Koran, and is told in some detail in Suras 3 and 11. That the Thamud were a historical people is guaranteed by the fact that they are referred to in Assyrian inscriptions of the eighth century B.C. as well as by Greek and Latin writers. Their legend ways that they were a mighty people of ancient Arabia who grew headstrong in their wickedness, so Allah sent to them one Salih as a prophet to preach monotheism to them and warn them of the sure fate of transgressors. When they demanded a miracle of Salih struck a rock from which emerged a she-camel, which gave birth to a camel calf. Salih made an equitable arrangement with them for her watering and pasturage, but one of them hamstrung the camel and killed the calf. As a result of their rejecting the messenger and his message, Allah sent on them destruction, from which only Salih and the few who believed in his escaped. Mohammed uses their legend as a warning example of what the Meccans are to expect if they in like manner reject him and his message.

³ Every messenger from Allah was "sent" to his community, and invariably complained that he was a person of no account just some "wretched fellow" from among them.

He frowned and turned his back, Because the blind man had come to him. And what will teach thee? Maybe he will purify himself, Or be reminded, so that the reminding will profit him. As for him who is rich,¹ Why to him thou didst give much attention; And what dost thou care that he does not purify himself? But as for him who comes to thee in earnest search, While he is in fear for his soul, Of him thou ,art neglectful.

Nay, indeed, it is a reminder,² So whoever wills remembers it. It is in honoured scrolls,³ Exalted, purified, Written ,by the hands of scribes Honoured, pious.

Death to man! How ungrateful he is! From what thing did He create him? From a drop of semen He created him, and gave him his allotment.⁴ Then the way He made easy; Then He caused him to die and had him buried; Then, when He wills, He will raise him up. Nay, indeed, not yet has he fulfilled what He commanded him.

¹ Tradition, of course, gives the name of this rich man, but like that of the blind man, and most other names given in connection with passages in the Koran, they are all suspect of being late inventions.

² The "it" here is the message.

³ See Sura 87, note.

⁴ qaddarahu, i.e., gave him what was decreed for him. The eased way in the next verse some take to mean an east birth, others an easy way of life.

So let man have a look at his food. We it was who poured out the water copiously, Then We split the ground in cracks, So that therein We caused grain to grow up, Also grapes and nutritious plants, And olives and palms, And orchards thick with trees, And fruits and herbage, A provision for you and for your flocks.

But when the crack⁵ of doom arrives, A Day when a man will flee from his brother, And his mother and his father, And his wife and his sons, Every man of them on that Day will have a concern to occupy him. Some faces on that Day will be radiant, Laughing, joyous. And there will be faces on that Day with dust upon them: Black dust will cover them; These are the unbelievers, the wicked.

⁵ sakhkha occurs only here in the Koran. It means "a deafening noise" and doubtless refers to the Last Trump which announces the Day of Doom.

Nun.¹ By the pen and by what they write, By the grace of thy Lord, O Mohammed, thou art not jinn-possessed,² the But truly for thee there is a reward that will not be cut off, For thou art at a mighty undertaking. So thou wilt see and they will see Which of you it is that is demented. Verily thy Lord is the One who best knows who has gone astray from His path, and He knows best about those who have yielded to guidance, So obey thou not those who count the message false. They would love to have thee deal smoothly, whereat they would deal smoothly. And obey thou not any despicable swearer of oaths,³ A backbiter who goes about with slander, A hinderer ofthe good, a transgressor, a guilty fellow, A man of violence, and beyond that a man of doubtful birth. What matters it that he has much wealth and many sons? When Our signs are recited to him he says: "Tales of the ancients." We shall brand him on the proboscis.⁴

Verily We have made trial of them as We made trial of the owners of a garden, when they swore that they would surely gather its fruits in the morning, And made no reserve.⁵ So an encircler from thy Lord went around it while they were sleeping, And by morning it was as a garden whose fruits have been gathered. Then they called to one another in the morning, saying: "Go out early to your field if ye are going to be gatherers." So off they went, whispering to one another: "See to it that no poor man enter it today to your loss." Thus they went out early with their fixed purpose, But when they saw it they said: "We, indeed, are those astray; Nay, but we are the ones forbidden to gather any fruit." The worthiest one of them said: "Did I not say to you: 'Why give ye not glory?'" They said: "Glory be to our Lord, we, indeed, have

¹ Nun is the twenty-fifth letter of the Arabic alphabet. Some twenty-nine Suras have such a letter or combination of letters at the commencement. Various explanations have been suggested for these mysterious letters, but no fully satisfactory solution has as yet been found.

² majnun, "crazy," is literally "possessed by jinn," the jinn being invisible spirits, like Socrates' daimon, which could at times enter and "possess" humans. In pre-Islamic Arabia it was thought that poets, diviners, soothsayers, and such folk, had each his "familiar," which at times possessed him and enabled him to give utterance. Apparently Mohammed at first appeared to his Meccan contemporaries as just such a crazed, "possessed" man, and there is reason to believe that when he first felt his call to mission after his great religious experience he was himself somewhat afraid that he was "jinn-possessed".

³ Tradition again, knows the name of this person, but it is most likely a pure invention.

⁴ khurtum is the word for an elephant's trunk. Bell translates it "snout".

⁵ The commentators say that this means that when they vowed they would do this thing they did not add: "If Allah wills," and so they were punished for their presumption. However, a little farther on it is made clear that what they purposed was to go early and make so clean a gathering of the fruits there would be nothing for the poor to glean afterwards. This suggests that the parable had its source in something Mohammed had learned from the People of the Book.

been wrongdoers." So they approached each other, blaming one another. They said: "Woe to us, we, indeed, have been presumptuous. Maybe our Lord will give us instead another garden better than it. Verily to our Lord are we making supplication." Such is the punishment; but the punishment of the Hereafter is worse, did they but know.

Verily for the pious, with their Lord, are gardens of delight. Shall We then make those who have surrendered themselves¹ like the sinners? How think ye? How would ye judge? Or do ye have a Book of Scripture in which ye study?² Verily ye have in it that to which ye should give preference. Or do ye have oaths binding on Us which extend to the Day of Resurrection? Verily ye have that which ye judge. Ask them, O Mohammed, which of them will go surety for that. Or do they have associate-gods?³ Then let them produce their associate-gods, if they are those who speak the truth, On the Day when the leg will be bared,⁴ and they are summoned to do obeisance but will not be able, Downcast will be their looks; humiliation will cover them, because they had been summoned to do obeisance while they were sound in body. So leave Me with such as count this discourse false. We shall bring them along gradually from whence they know not. Yet I shall respite them. Verily, My stratagem is sure. Or art thou asking them for some recompense so that they are weighed down by debt? Or do they have the Unseen with them, so that it is they who write? Then wait with patience for the judgment of thy Lord, and be not like the fellow of the fish, [Jonah], when he called upon Allah while he was with sorrow oppressed. Had it not been that favour from his Lord reached him he would have been cast forth upon the naked shore disgraced. But his Lord chose him and set him among the righteous. Behold! those who disbelieve would well nigh cause thee to slip by their very looks, when they hear the reminder.

¹ muslimun, the plural of Muslim, i.e. one who has submitted or surrendered himself to Allah. The plural is used here as a common, not as a proper noun.

² This and the following verses give color to the theory of those who regard this passage as Medinan and addressed to the Jews.

³ shuraka means "associates," but here is a technical term for those beings, whether angels, demons, idols, false-gods, or what not, that men associated with Allah in their worship.

⁴ Eschatological tractates make much of this "uncovering of the leg" on the Last Day, the thought being that it is Allah who well uncover His Divine leg, and the evil-doers will be bidden to bow themselves in obeisance, but, though perfectly sound in body, they will find themselves as stiff as boards and unable to bow down as the righteous are doing. The Arabic phrase, however, originally meant no more than stripping for combat, and what Mohammed has in mind in this verse is apparently nothing more than the baring of the legs of those who are being hurried on to the place of judgement, on a Day when there can be no change in one's spiritual status, and those who were stiff-kneed about prayer and adoration in this life will find themselves still stiff-kneed in the presence of the Judge.

And they say: "Assuredly he is jinn-possessed," Yet it is nothing other than a reminder to mankind.

Glorify, O Mohammed, the name of thy Lord, the Most High, Who created and then fashioned, Who determined and then guided, Who brought forth the pasture-land, Then made it blackened stubble. We shall cause thee to recite, and thou wilt not forget Except what Allah wills. He, indeed, knows what is published abroad and what one conceals. And We shall make it easy for thee, very easy, So remind, if the reminder profits anyone. Whoso fears Allah will receive the reminder, But the reprobate will turn aside from it, He who will roast in the great fire of Hell, Then therein will neither die nor live. Prospered, indeed, has he who has purified himself, And made mention of the name of his Lord, and said prayers. Nay, but ye prefer this present life, Though the Hereafter is better and more enduring. Truly, all this is in the former scrolls,¹ The scrolls of Abraham and Moses.

¹ suhuf is literally "sheets", i.e., the sheets of parchment or papyrus on which Scripture Books were written, so it is one of the Koranic words for Scripture, often translated "scrolls." Many apocryphal works bearing the names of Abraham and Moses were in circulation among the Jews and Christian, so the reference may be to these. Or it may be that as Abraham and Moses were both prophets, Mohammed assumed that they must have had Scripture revelation, as he later learned for certain in the case of Moses, whose Torah he mentions frequently.

By the fig, and by the olive, By Mount Sinai, By this land so secure,¹ We have, indeed, created man in the goodliest form,² Then We brought him down to the lowliest of the low, Save those who believe and work righteous works, for there is for them a reward that will not be cut off; So what [or who] after this will declare thee false with regard to the Judgment? Is not Allah the justest of Judges?³

By the afternoon, Verily man is in loss. Save those who have believed and worked righteous works, and have enjoined on one another truth, and enjoined on one another patient endurance.

¹ The land would be the Hejaz; or if balad means "town" then the reference would be to Mecca, and the word amin would refer to its inviolate character as a religious sanctuary. Some think, however, that coming after mention of Sinai the land is the Holy Land, of which the fig and the olive are so characteristic.

² taqwin means "symmetry," and there seems to be some suggestion of a contrast between man's goodly physical form and his wretched moral stature.

³ Lit., "the judgliest of judges, " if that were possible in English.

By the heaven furnished with towers,¹ By the promised Day, By a witness and that which is witnessed, Death take the Masters of the Trench,² Of the fire fed with fuel. Lo! they were sitting around it, And they were witnesses to what they were doing to the believers. They were wreaking vengeance on them for no other reason than that they believed in Allah, the Sublime, the Praiseworthy, To Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. But Allah is a witness of everything. Verily, those who vexed the believing men and the believing women, and then did not repent, for them is the punishment of Gehenna, for them is the punishment of the burning. But those who have believed and worked works of righteousness, for them are the gardens beneath which rivers flow. That is the great success.

Verily thy Lord's assault is terrible. He it is who originates and restores. And He is the Forgiving, the Loving One, Lord of the Throne, the Glorious One,³ He who accomplishes that which He intends. Has there come to thee, O Mohammed,

¹ buruj (cf. Latin burgus) means "towers," but is said here to refer to the constellations in the heavens.

² In 524 A.D. there was a great persecution of the Christians of Najran in South Arabia, of which we have accounts preserved by Simeon of Beth Arsham and in the curious Book of the Himyarites edited by Axel Moberg in 1924. The story as it came to Mohammed seems to have told that the bodies of the slain were burned in a trend (ukhdud), and this serves to point a warning of the even worse fires of Gehenna.

³ This is sometimes rendered "Lord of the Glorious Throne," but the pointing of the test as we have it makes "glorious" an attribute of the Lord, not the Throne.

the story of the hosts Of Pharaoh, and of those of Thamud? Nay, but those who disbelieve are at their perverse way of counting false. But Allah from behind them is encompassing them. Nay, but it is a glorious lesson [qur'an] Inscribed on a preserved tablet.¹

O thou enwrapped one,² Rise up at night, save a little, Half of it-or shorten it somewhat, Or increase it-and prepare carefully the lesson [Qur'an],³ For We are going to cast on thee a weighty discourse. Verily the early part of the night is the best for getting a strong impression and a just word. During the day thou hast, indeed, long hours of toil, So commemorate the name of thy Lord, and devote thyself to Him with complete devotion. Lord of the East and of the West, there is no other deity save Him, so take Him as thy guardian, And be patient under what they are saying, and make a graceful withdrawal from them.

¹ The reference is to the celestial archetype of Scripture.

² muzzammil is from the verb tazammala "to wrap oneself in a cloak," and recalls the muddaththir of Sura 74.

³ Qur'an has here its original sense of "Scripture less," whereas in the concluding section it has the late meaning of the body of material Mohammed had been teaching them to use liturgically, as the Jews and Christians used Scripture liturgically.

Leave Me alone with those comfortably living fellows who count the message false, and bear with them for a little. Truly, right here with Us are fetters and fire,¹ And food that chokes,² and painful torment, For a Day when the earth and the mountains will be quaking; indeed, the mountains will be soft sand-heaps.

Truly, We have sent unto you a messenger, a witness against you, just as We sent a messenger to Pharaoh, But Pharaoh opposed the messenger, and We took painful hold on him, So how will ye, if ye disbelieve, protect yourselves on a Day which will make children grey-headed? By which the heavens will be rent asunder; of which the promise will be fulfilled? Lo! this message is a reminder, so let whosoever will stake a path to his Lord.

Truly thy Lord well knows that thou dost rise for prayer, O Mohammed, almost two-thirds of the night, or a half, or a third thereof, as also do a group of those with thee. Allah measures the night and the day. He knows that ye do not keep count of it, so He has relented towards you. So recite as much of the Koran as is easy. He knows that some among you will be sick, and others will be going around in the land seeking Allah's bounty, and others fighting in the way of Allah, so recite as much thereof as is easy, and observe prayers, and pay the legal alms, and lend Allah a goodly loan. Whatever good ye send forward for yourselves you will find again with Allah. That is a good, indeed a very great reward. And ask Allah's forgiveness. Truly Allah is forgiving, compassionate.

¹ Jahim means a fiercely burning fire, whence it comes to be one of the names for Hell-fire. See Sura 82, Note 4.

² Apparently a reference to the fruits of the infernal tree Zaqqum, mentioned in Sura 37, on which the Damned are said to choke as they attempt to eat it.

The Striker! What is the Striker? And what will teach thee what the Striker is? On a Day when people will be like scattered moths, And the mountains will be like carded wool, As for him whose balance weighs heavy, He will be in a life well-pleasing. But as for him whose balance weighs light, Hawiya will be his mother. And what will teach thee what that is? It is a scorching fire.

When the earth with her quaking will quake, And her burden the earth will cast forth, And man will say: "What is the matter with her?" On that Day she will tell forth her news,¹ Because thy Lord will have inspired her.² On that

¹ It is a very ancient idea that as a preliminary to Judgment the earth will be flattened out so that there are no longer either hills or valleys. Thus all who are in their graves and all else hidden in the earth will have to come out, and when Judgement commences the earth will be given a tongue so that she may tell of all, whether good or ill, that has been committed on her surface.

² The verb awha, which is Mohammed's ordinary word for God-given inspiration, is used here. Normally the earth cannot speak, but at Allah's prompting she will speak.

Day the people will go forward individually, that they may be shown their works. Whosoever has done an atom's weight of good will see it, And whoso has done an atom's weight of evil will see it.

When the heavens have been rent asunder, And when the stars have been dispersed, And when the seas have been commingled,¹ And when the graves have been upturned, A soul will know what it has sent forward and what it has kept back.

O man! what has led thee away from thy generous Lord, From him who created thee and formed thee and shaped thee rightly, Building thee up in such form as He willed? Nay, indeed, but ye count the Judgment ² as something false, Yet over you, indeed, are guardians, Noble ones, those who write.³ They know what ye do. Verily, the righteous will be in delight, While the wicked assuredly will be in Jahim,⁴ Where, on the judgment Day, they will roast, And may not be absent therefrom. What will teach thee what the Day of judgment is? Again, what will teach thee what the Day of judgment is? It is a Day when no soul will avail aught for another soul,⁵ but the matter on that Day will be with Allah.

¹ This is usually taken to mean that in the upheaval on the Day when heaven and earth are being changed as a preliminary to Judgment, all the sweet waters will get mixed up with the salt waters, and Sura 81 says that there will be so great a churning that the seas will boil. It is not impossible, however, that this is merely meant as a parallel to the fourth verse, the sea having to give up its dead just as the earth does.

² din means "judgment", but it also means "religion," and some commentators think that here the Meccans are being chidden for rejecting this new religion being preached by Mohammed.

³ These verses are generally taken to refer to the Recording Angels who keep a record of all the good and ill men do.

⁴ Perhaps it would have been better to translate this "fire" as in Sura 73, though here it seems rather to be a proper name, one of the names of Hell.

⁵ One of Mohammed's favorite ideas, repeated over and over again in the Koran, is that no Redeemer, no Savior, no intercessor can do anything for the individual soul at Judgment.

When the sun has been removed,¹ And the stars have fallen down, When the mountains have been moved away, And the she-camels in their tenth month have been abandoned,² And when the wild beasts have been gathered together, And the seas have been set boiling, And when the souls have been paired again with their bodies,³ And when the female infant who was buried alive has been asked For what sin she was put to death, And when the scrolls have been opened out, When the heaven has been stripped away, And al-Jahim⁴ has been set blazing, And the garden of Paradise has been brought near, Each soul will know what it has got ready.

So I swear not by the planets ⁵ Which swiftly move and conceal themselves, By the night when it draws on, By the morn when it comes in. It is, indeed, the speech of a noble messenger,⁶ One possessed of power, established beside the Lord of the Throne, Obeyed there, faithful. And your companion [Mohammed] is not jinn-possessed, For, indeed, he saw him [the angel Gabriel) on the clear horizon,⁷ Nor was he niggardly concerning the Unseen. It is not the speech of a

¹ This is the verb used for folding up a garment to put it away.

² It is in the tenth month of their pregnancy that the she-camels need particular attention, so their being neglected at such a time is an indication of unusual terror. The succeeding verse means that the terror will be so great that wild beasts will crowd together forgetful of their natural enmity towards one another.

³ When the bodies are raised from their graves they must be joined again by their souls so that a complete man, body plus soul, may appear for Judgment.

⁴ Here Jahim has the definite article and so is certainly a nem for Hell-fire.

⁵ As in Sura 90 the la may not be a negative particle but merely a particle used to strengthen the oath.

⁶ al-khunnas is form a root meaning "to lag behind," and is said to be a general name for the five planets - Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercurt - which have a retrograde as well as a direct forward motion.

⁷ This is generally considered to refer to the angel of revelation who was late identified with Gabriel.

stoned Satan. So where are ye going?¹ It is naught bet a reminder to mankind, To such among you as are willing to go straight, But ye will not so will, save if Allah, Lord of mankind wills.

By the star when it falls, Your companion [Mohammed] has not gone astray, nor has he been misled, Nor is he speaking out of his own inclination. It is naught but a revelation that has been revealed to him. One mighty in power ² taught him, One possessed of strength, who stood erect When He was at the highest point of the horizon. Then He drew near and descended, So that He was two bows' length off; or nearer, And He revealed to His servant what He revealed.

¹ See Sura 53, verse 7: "When He was....the horizon.

² Or as we should say: "What are you going to do about it? The verb dhahaba means "to go," but a madhhab, i.e., a place to which one goes, is the ordinary word used for the religious group one follows, so when Mohammed asks: "Where are you going?", what he means is: "What opinion are you going to adopt with regard to this new religious message?"

His heart [i.e., his mind] did not falsify what he saw. So will ye now dispute with him about what he saw? Why, indeed, he saw Him coming down another time, At the sidra-tree of the boundary,¹ Beside which is the garden of resort, When the sidra tree was covered with what covers it. His gaze neither turned aside nor did it go beyond, For, indeed, he was seeing one of the greatest signs of his Lord.

Is it that ye have considered al-Lat and al-Uzza, And Manat,² the other, third one? Do ye have males while He has only females? That would, indeed, be an unfair partition. These are nothing but names. Ye and your fathers named them so, but Allah has sent down no authority for them. They [the Meccans) follow naught but opinion and what their souls desire, even when there has come to them guidance from their Lord. Or shall man have what he has longed for? To Allah belong both the last and the first, And how many an angel there is in the heavens whose intercession will avail not at all, Except after Allah gives permission to whom He wills and is well-pleased. Verily it is those who do not believe in the Hereafter who give female names to the angels. They have no knowledge about the matter, merely following opinion, but opinion avails not at all against the truth. So turn thou aside from those who turn their backs on Our reminder, and who desire naught but the life of this world. That is as far as their knowledge reaches. Truly thy Lord knows best about who has gone astray from His way, and knows best about who has accepted guidance. Allah's is whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth, that He may recompense those who have done evil in accordance with what they have done, and recompense those who have done good with what is best, Those who avoid the greater sins and shameful crimes save inadvertently. Truly thy Lord's forgiveness is wide. He knows very well about you, when He produced

¹ The commentators are unanimous in referring this to Gabriel, who, according to tradition, appeared to bring Mohammed his first revelation. The wording of the passage, however, very definitely suggests that Mohammed at first thought he had seen a theophany, so that these epithets apply to Allah, Who, in the Prophet's vision, filled the horizon and then drew near to speak with him.

² Pious imagination has pictured this sidra-tree (or lote-tree) as a celestial tree of enormous proportions marking the boundary beyond which creatures may not pass. It is more likely, however, that the Prophet is telling of the locality near Mecca where he had seen the vision. It was by a boundary tree quite near to a certain garden plesaunce, and the season of the year was that in which the sidra-tree was covered with blossoms. The next verses mean that he looked right at the figure in his vision, not looking to one side of it, nor looking beyond it.

³ al Lat is the feminine form of Allah, and al-Uzza is the feminine of al-A'azz, so these two names mean "the goddess" and "the most beloved." Manat is most probably connected with the root for good fortune. All three names occur in pre-Islamic texts, and all are possibly but epithets of the ancient Mother Goddess formerly worshiped at Mecca. In Mohammed's time, however, the Koreigh would seem to have considered them as three daughters of Allah (see Sura 37, ref. 22), which is the reason for the jibe in the next line. The verse beginning two line after is, on the face of it, a later insertion.

you from the earth, and when ye were embryos in your mothers' wombs, so seek not to justify yourselves. He knows very well who it is shows piety.

Hast thou, O Mohammed, considered him who has turned his back,¹ Who has given but little in charity, and is niggardly? Does he have knowledge of the Unseen so that he sees? Or has he not been told about what is in the scrolls of Moses And of Abraham, who carried out what he was bidden?² How no burdened soul may bear the burden of another, And that there is nothing for man save that for which he has striven? And that the object of his striving will one day be seen? Then will he be recompensed the fullest recompense. And has he not learned that to thy Lord is the final coming? That He is the One who causes laughter and weeping, Just as He is the One who causes to die and causes to live? That He created the couples, the male and the female, Creating them from a drop of semen when it is emitted, And that upon Him lies the task of the other producing,³ That He is the One who grants riches and possessions, And that He is the Lord of the Dog Star,⁴ That He destroyed Ad, the former people,⁵ And Thamud, leaving no survivors, And earlier still the people of Noah, because they had been wrongdoers and had transgressed, And the overturned cities [Sodom and Gomorrah] He overthrew, So that there covered them what covered theme Which then of the benefits of thy Lord wilt thou make matter of doubt?

This warner [Mohammed] is one of the warners of old. That which draws on [Judgment Day] is drawing on, But there is no one save Allah who can reveal it. Can it be that ye consider this discourse strange? And laugh and do not weep? But are spending your time on vanities? Rather do obeisance to Allah and worship Him.

¹ This may, of course, be a quite general reference applicable to many Meccans, but it may also refer to some particular person, though the statements in the commentaries as to the identity of this person must not be taken so seriously.

² See Sura 87, last verse. The reference here is doubtless to Abraham's willingness to offer up Isaac in sacrifice. The verb waffa means "To fulfill an engagement," and another form of the same verb occurs four verses later, where it is Allah who will fulfil His engagement to give due recompense.

³ As He produced each individual from the drop of semen at conception, so it is His affair to produce the bodies from the earth again at the resurrection.

⁴ ash-Shi'ra is said to be the Arabic name for Sirius, the Dog Star, which was apparently worshiped by the ancient Arabs as a rain-maker.

⁵ The people of Ad, like those of Thamud, were an ancient Arabian people, whose legend Mohammed makes use of in the Koran to provide another example of a people who were destroyed because they rejected Allah's messenger when he came to them.

When the heaven has been rent, And has given ear to its Lord and become worthy.¹ And when the earth has been stretched out flat, And has cast forth what was in it and become empty, And has given ear to its Lord and become worthy. Then, O man, thou wilt be toiling painfully unto thy Lord, for thou art going to meet Him. Then as for him who is given his record book in his right hand, He will be reckoned with by an easy reckoning, And he will turn back happily to his kindred. But as for him who is given his record book behind his back, He will invoke destruction, But will roast in Sa'ir.² He, indeed, had been happy amongst his kindred; He, indeed, thought that he would never be brought back to a reckoning. Aye! but his Lord was watching him. So I swear not ³ by the twilight glow, Nor by the night and what it gathers, Nor by the moon when it is full, Assuredly ye shall ride on stage after stage. So what is the matter with them that they do not believe? And when the lesson [Qur'an] is recited to them they do not do obeisance? Nay, those who have disbelieved count the message false. Allah, however, knows well what they have in mind, So give thou to them good tidings of a painful punishment,⁴ Which awaits all save those who have believed and worked works of righteousness. For them there is a reward that will not be cut off

¹ The purpose of this creation of a new heaven and a new earth is that they may be in fit and worthy state for the great scene of Judgment.

² Sa'ir, "blaze," is one of the names for Hell-fire.

³ Again this particle la may not be negative but merely a particle to strengthen the oath.

⁴ This is an example of Mohammed's irony; bashshara is the technical word for good tidings, and the verbal-noun from it is used in Christian Arabic for the Gospel, i.e. the good news.

By the chargers as they breathe heavily, And those who with their hooves strike sparks of fire, And those who dash forth in the early morn, Thereby trailing a cloud of dust, In the midst of which they move as a troop.¹ Truly man is ungrateful to his Lord. And, indeed, he himself is witness to that. And, truly, he is vehement in love of this world's good. Does he not know that when that which is in the graves is dragged forth, And that which is in the breasts is made manifest, Their Lord will indeed on that Day be well informed about them?²

¹ This takes the jam'an as referring to those who ride forth in the morning, and who keep together as a band partially concealed by their cloud of dust. Others take the jam'an as referring not to the raiders but to the raided, and therein plunge into the midst of a host."

² I.e., on that Day all that the earth has concealed will be brought forth, and all that has been hidden in the hearts of men will be made manifest, so the Judge will have all the evidence before Him.

By those who violently draw forth, And those who draw out gently,¹ By those who move swimmingly along, By those who, making an effort, get ahead, By those who arrange affairs, One day the quaker will start everything quaking,² And the follower will follow right after. Hearts on that Day will be beating fast And looks will be downcast. Men will say: "Are we really to be returned to our original estate? Can, such a thing be when we have become rotten bones?" They will say: "That then will be a losing turn." Yet it will be only one single blast, And lo! there they are looking around.³

Has there come to thee, O Mohammed, the story of Moses? When his Lord called to him at the holy vale Tuwa:⁴ "Go to Pharaoh. He has, indeed, become overweening, So say to him: 'Hast thou any desire to purify thyself? And that I might guide thee to thy Lord, that thou mightest fear Him?'" So Moses showed him a very great sign, But he counted it false and rebelled. Then he turned his back in haste, Assembling his people and making proclamation. He said: "I am your Lord, the Most High." So Allah took hold of him for punishment in the Hereafter as well as in this first life. Truly, in that there is a lesson for such as fear Allah.

¹ When this is referred to the angels who come at death, the meaning is that wicked souls are dragged forth violently but the souls of the good are eased out gently. The succeeding verses are then taken to refer to the carrying up of the soul to where decision is made as to where it is to abide to the Day of Resurrection.

² The two words rajifa, "that which cause violent trembling," and radifa, "that which follows," are commonly taken to mean the two blasts on the Trump of Doom, the one which shatters everything in heaven and on earth, and the following one which raises the dead and ushers in the Judgment. Later in this passage the trumpet blast is called a zajra " a shout."

³ The verb sahira means "to be watchful," and there are passages in the Koran which speak of the newly risen on the Day looking around watching expectantly for what will come next. The common opinion, however, is that as-Sahira here is a proper noun, the name of that wide open plain on which men will be assembled for Judgment, in which case one should translate: "there they are at as-Sahir."

⁴ This tale of Tuwa, the place where Moses received his call, is mentioned again in Sura 20, but no satisfactory explanation of the name has yet been found.

Are ye the more difficult to create, or the heaven? He built it, Raising high its vault and fashioning it orderly, Making dark its night, and drawing forth its morning brightness. And the earth, after that, He spread out, Producing from it its water and its pasture land, And the mountains He set firm, All this as a provision for you and for your cattle.

But when the great calamity ¹ has come, A Day when man will be reminded of that for which he has been striving, When al-Jahim will have been set clearly in view for everyone to see, Then as for him who has transgressed, And made choice of this world's life, al-Jahim will assuredly be his abiding-place. But as for him who feared the Judgment-seat of his Lord, and kept his soul from desire, The garden of Paradise will assuredly be his abiding-place.

They will question thee, O Mohammed, about the Hour, saying: "When is the time fixed for it?" And: "What hast thou to do with the mentioning thereof?" Its arrival is the concern of thy Lord. Thou art only a warner of such as may fear it. The day they see it they will seem not to have tarried more than an evening and its morn.²

¹ at-Tamma is one of the names of the Last Day, apparently indicating that it is a day of overthrowing or overwhelming. It occurs only here in the Koran.

² The meaning is said to be that when the dead are raised it will seem to them that they have been in the grave no longer than a night.

By those sent forth one after the other, By those that blow in violent gusts, By those that scatter scatterings, By those that divide up into parts, By those that cast down reminders, Whether as excuse or as warning, Verily, that which ye are promised is about to happen. So when the stars are blotted out, And when the sky is rent asunder, When the mountains are crumbled, And when the messengers have a time set:¹ For what Day is all this being arranged? For the Day of Severance.² And what will teach thee what the Day of Severance is?

Woe on that Day to those who count it false! Did We not destroy those of former times? Then We shall cause those of later times to follow them, For thus do We deal with sinners.

Woe on that Day to those who count it false! Did We not create you from contemptible water? Which We placed in a repository secure Until a known measure of time. We determined it, and what excellent determiners are We.

Woe on that Day to those who count it false! Did We not appoint the earth as a gathering place For the living and for the dead? And We placed upon it firmly fixed mountains rising lofty, and gave you water sweet ³ to drink.

Woe on that Day to those who count it false! off with you to that which ye were counting false. Off with you to a three-branched shadow,⁴ Which gives no shade and protects

¹ At Judgment each of the messengers sent forth from Allah will have an appointed time at which he will give an accounting of how he fulfilled his mission, and how he was received by the community to which he was sent.

² fasala is "to separate into parts," so the Day of Severance, or Day of Distinction, is the day of the separating out the sheep from the goats, the severing of many an ancient tie, and the distinguishing of things evil from things good.

³ furat is sweet water as distinguished from salt water. It is also the Arabic name for the Euphrates.

⁴ The sulphurous smoke from Hell-fire, tawny in color, and emitting huge sparks, is said to divide into three branches as it rises, looking like a shadow but giving no shade.

not against the flame, That casts out sparks in size like castles, A shadow which is as though it were tawny camels.

Woe on that Day to those who count it false! This is the Day on which they will not speak, Nor will permission be given them to make excuses.

Woe on that Day to those who count it false! This is the Day of Severance. We have gathered you along with those of former times. So if you have any stratagem then try your stratagem on Me.

Woe on that Day to those who count it false! Verily, the pious will be amidst shades and fountains, And fruits of whatsoever kind they may desire. We shall say: "Eat and drink with full enjoyment ¹ because of what ye have been doing. Thus it is that We recompense those who do good".

Woe on that Day to those who count it false! Eat and take your enjoyment for a little. Ye, indeed, are sinners. Woe on that Day to those who count it false! For when to them is said: "Bow down in worship," they do not bow down.

Woe on that Day to those who count it false! For in what discourse after this will they believe?

⁴ hani'an means "in good health." It is used also in the fourth verse of Sura 4, form which passage one gathers that it is used to mean: "eat without fear of digestive troubles."

About what are they questioning one another? About the great announcement, With regard to which they are in disagreement. Nay, indeed! anon they will know. Then nay, indeed! anon they will know.

Did We not set out the earth a flat expanse, And set thereon the mountains as tent-pegs?¹ And We have created you as pairs, And have appointed your sleep for resting. Also We have appointed the night to be a covering, And have appointed the day as the time for gaining your livelihood. Above you We have built seven solid heavenly vaults,² And have placed therein a brightly-burning lamp. And from the rain clouds We have sent down water in abundance, That thereby We might bring forth grain and herbage, And gardens thickly planted.

Truly, the Day of Severance is a time already appointed, A Day when there will be a blast on the Trump ³ and ye will come in crowds, And the heavens will be opened up and become portals, And the mountains will be set moving and become a mirage. Hell truly has become a place of snares, For the presumptuous transgressors an abiding-place, In which they will remain for ages. Therein they will taste no coolness nor any drink Save scalding water and putrid pus.⁴ A fitting recompense. They were, indeed, not expecting an accounting, So they counted Our signs as utterly false. Yet We have made an account of everything in a Book,⁵ So We shall say to them: "Taste ye! never shall We give you increase in anything save punishment." But truly for the pious there is a place of bliss, Gardens enclosed and vineyards, And full-bosomed damsels of the same age, And a cup full to overflowing,

¹ awtad are the pegs used to fasten down the nomad's tent. The idea is that when the earth was spread out flat on the primaeval waters the mountains were wet on it to keep it firm.

² There are not the seven Ptolemaic heavenly spheres, but seven domes one above the other, set like convex bowls over the disc-like earth and the circumambient ocean which they hold in place.

³ Here the word is Sur, the more commonly used sord for the Trump that will sound the note of doom. See note 2 to Sura 74.

⁴ hamim and ghassaq, the former of which is derived from a root meaning "hot," but the latter is apparently a word invented by Mohammed, so that it is only a guess of the exegetes that it means liquid pus.

⁵ Various heavenly books are mentioned in the Koran viz., the celestial archetype of Scripture, the records of good and evil deeds, the Book of Decrees, and a certain Register or inventory of all things in heaven and one earth. Here the reference seems to be to the Record Book.

An abode in which they will hear no foolish talk nor any counting false, A recompense from thy Lord, a free gift, a reckoning.

Lord of the heavens and the earth and what lies between them, the Merciful, from Whom they shall obtain no word of address, On the Day when the Spirit ¹ and the angels will stand in due order arranged they will not speak, save him to whom the Merciful may give permission, and he will say only that which is correct. That is the real Day. So let whosoever wills take a path back to his Lord. Truly We have given you warning of a punishment that is near at hand. The Day when man will see what his hands have sent ahead, and the unbeliever will say: "O would that I were dust."

Has there come to thee the account of the Enveloper? On that Day faces will be downcast. Travailing, worn out, They will roast at a scorching fire, Given to drink from a fountain fiercely boiling; No food will they have save that of thorny shrubs,² Which neither fattens nor avails against hunger. Other faces on that Day will be joyous, Well-pleased with the course they have run. They will be in a lofty garden, Wherein they

¹ It is still quite uncertain what Mohammed meant by this Spirit (Ruh), who seems always to be associated with the angels and yet is mightier than they are. By orthodox piety he has been identified with Gabriel, but one suspects that there may perhaps be a reference to the Biblical Spirit of God, or the Rabbinic Metatron, of whom Mohammed may have heard from Jews or Christians but only vaguely understood. The passage about the Spirit toward the end of Sura 17 is revealing, for there the Prophet is obviously trying to answer those who questioned him about the Spirit but us unable to do more than take refuge in the statement that this is a mystery.

² dari is said to be a thorny desert shrub extremely bitter to the taste, and so is used here to illustrate the kind of food the wicked may expect in Hell.

will hear no foolish talk, A garden in which is a gushing fountain, In which also are high-raised couches, And drinking-goblets placed in readiness, And cushions laid out in rows, And luscious carpets spread.

Will they not look at the camels,¹ how they have been created? And at the sky, how it has been raised aloft? And at the mountains, how they have been firmly fixed? And at the earth, how it has been spread out flat? So warn, O Mohammed! Thou art only a warner. Thou art no overseer over them, Save him who has turned his back and disbelieved, But him will Allah punish with the greater punishment. Truly to Us is their returning. Then, truly, with Us is their reckoning.

By the dawn, And ten nights,² By the double and the single, By the night when it runs its course, Is there in that an oath for a man of intelligence?

Hast thou not seen, O Mohammed, how thy Lord dealt with Ad At Iram, adorned with pillars,³ The like of which

¹ ibil, like the Akkadian i-bi-lu, is an ordinary Semitic word for "camel," but as the next verse speaks about the sky, many commentators say that here it means the clouds, whose massed formations are at times not unlike camels with their humps.

² Later exegsis insists that these are the first ten nights of Dhu'l-Hijja, the last month of the Moslem year, and the days during which annually the Greater Pilgrimage takes place. This obviously could not have been the original reference, and what was really meant by this and the next verse is still obscure.

³ Iram is taken to be the name of the chief city of the ancient people of Ad already mentioned in note 8 to Sura 53.

had not been created in the land? And with Thamud, who hewed out the rocks in the valley for dwellings, And with Pharaoh, Lord of the stakes?¹ Who, all of them, acted presumptuously in the land, And increased corruption therein, So thy Lord poured out upon them the scourge of chastisement. Verily, thy Lord is assuredly lying in a place of snare. But as for man, whenever his Lord tries him, then honours him and is graciously bountiful to him, he says: "My Lord has honoured me," But whenever He tries him and sets a measure to His provision for him, he says: "My Lord has humiliated me." Nay, indeed, but ye do not honour the orphan, And do not urge one another to feed the unfortunate, But ye do devour heritages greedily, And ye love wealth with an ardent affection.

Nay, indeed, when the earth is pounded to dust, pounding, pounding, And thy Lord comes along, and the angels, rank by rank, And Gehenna on that Day is brought in: Man, on that Day would fain be reminded, but whence shall the reminder come to him? He will say: "O would that I had sent ahead provision for my life." But on that Day no one will chastise with His chastisement, And no one will bind with His binding. Then will it be said: "O tranquil soul, Return to thy Lord approving and approved; And enter among My servants, And enter My garden."²

¹ What is meant by this is unknown. awtad are stakes or tent-pegs, and since the mention of Ad and Thamud is followed by a reference to their dwellings, something to do with the dwelling-places of Pharaoh would seem to be indicated, but what the reference is escapes us.

² Paradise.

swear not¹ by the Day of Resurrection, Nor do I swear by the self-accusing soul. Does man think that We shall never reassemble his bones? Aye, We are quite well able to rearrange even his figers. But man desires to deny what is ahead of him. He asks: "When is the Day of Resurrection?" So when the sight is dazzled, And the moon is darkened in eclipse, And the sun and the moon are brought together,² On that Day man will say: "Where is a place to which to flee?" Nay, indeed, there is no refuge.³ With thy Lord on that Day is the resting-place. On that Day man will have announced to him what he has sent forward and what he has held back. Nay, but man will be a clear demonstration against himself, Even though he put forward his excuses.

Move not thy tongue therein, O Mohammed, to hasten with it, The assembling of it and reciting it is Our affair, So when We recite it do thou follow its recitation. Then it is Our affair to make it clear.

Nay, indeed, but ye love this transitory world, And neglect the Hereafter. On that Day some faces will be beaming, Looking towards their Lord. But other faces on that Day will be dismal, So you would think they are being subjected to

¹ It was commonly believed in the ancient Near East that sun and moon were originally one but were separated as the creation days moved on. Since eschatology is a recapitulation of cosmology, they must be reunited once more during the events of the Last Day.

² wazar, which occurs only here in the Koran, is said to mean an accessible mountain, and so a place to which to flee for refuge.

³ This word refers the piercing of the noses of animals that they may hold the wooden ring to which the leading-strap will be attached.

nose-slitting.¹ Nay, indeed, when it [the departing soul] reaches the collar-bones, And there is a cry: "Who can give a charm?" And he thinks that it is the parting, For leg is entwined with leg, On that day the on-driving will be to thy Lord. So he did not consider it true, and he did not say prayers, But counted it as false and turned away, Then he went to his folk walking haughtily.

Near to thee, ever nearer is the Hour.² Then nearer to thee, still nearer.

Does man think that he will be left forsaken? Was he not a drop of semen emitted? Then he was a blood-clot. So did He create and fashion, And make of him the two sexes, the male and the female. Is that One not powerful enough to bring to life the dead?

Say: "O ye unbelievers, I worship not that which ye worship, Nor are ye worshipping that which I worship. Never shall I be a worshipper of what ye worship, Nor will ye be worshippers of that which I worship. Ye have your religion, and I have my religion."

¹ This addition is merely an attempt to link these two out-of-place verses with what goes before and what comes after.

² The Summoner is doubtless Allah, though in later times, when Israfel was the angel assigned to the blowing of the Trump of Doom, the Summoner was identified with him. Others seem to have considered that the Summoner was Gabriel.

Say: "The fact is, Allah is One, Allah is the Eternal. He did not beget and He was not begotten, And no one has ever been His peer."