as large as castles,
33“as if they were
yellow camels.”
34Woe, that day, to those
who deny the truth.
35That will be a day
they are unable to speak,
36nor will they have leave
to make pleas.
37Woe, that day, to those
who deny the truth.
38That will be the day
of decision. We shall gather
you and those before you.
39So if you have a scheme,
scheme against Me [now]!
40Woe, that day, to those
who deny the truth.
SECTION 2
41The righteous shall be
among shades and springs,
42with whatever fruits they desire.
43“Eat and drink, to your content,
[a reward] for all your deeds.”
44In this way, We reward
those who do good deeds.
45Woe, that day, to those
who deny the truth.
46They will be told,
“Eat and enjoy for a while—
you who are sinners.”
47Woe, that day, to those
who deny the truth.
48And when they are told,
“Bow down,”
they do not bow.
49Woe, that day, to those
who deny the truth.
50In what message, ever,
will they believe after this?
SURA 78
The Announcement (Al-Nabaʾ)
Middle Meccan, this sura of 40 verses opens with a pronouncement of imminent judgment (vv. 1–5) before citing God’s might and majesty (vv. 6–16) and then concluding with a vivid scenario of the day of decision (vv. 17–40).
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
SECTION 1
1About what
do they ask one another?
2About the momentous announcement
3over which they dispute.
4Indeed, they shall find out—
5yes, they shall soon find out.
6Did We not spread out
the earth like a couch?
7And anchor the mountains like posts?
8Did We not create you in pairs,
9and make your sleep for rest,
10the night a cover,
11the day for livelihood?
12Have We not built above you
seven secure heavens,
13placing there a flaming lamp?
14And do We not send down
water from the rainclouds,
pouring profusely,
15to bring forth grain and greenery,
16and gardens with luscious growth?
17The day of decision
has an appointed time—
18a day when the trumpet shall be sounded
and you will come forward in crowds;
19the sky will be opened like doors,°
20and the mountains moved,
vanishing into a mirage.°
21Hell, for sure, lies waiting—
22the final end for transgressors
23where they will stay for eons.
24They will taste nothing cool there,
nor any drink,
25just scalding water and purulence—
26a fitting recompense.
27For they never expected
any reckoning
28and utterly denied Our signs.
29We have recorded all things
in a Book.
30“So taste this—We will grant you
only more torment.”°
SECTION 2
31Those who were mindful of God
shall flourish
32in gardens with grapevines
33with companions, well suited,
34and a cup overflowing.
35There they shall hear
no idle talk nor falsehood—
36a reward from your Lord,
a fitting gift
37from the Lord of the heavens and the earth,
and all that lies between them—the All Merciful—
none shall have power to address Him—
38on the day that the Spirit°
and the angels stand in ranks,
none shall speak but those
permitted by the All Merciful—
and they will say only what is right.
39That will be the day of truth—
so let those who wish, take a path
back to their Lord.
40We have warned you
of impending torment, on a day
when every person will see
[the deeds] his hands have wrought,
when the disbelievers cry, “Alas,
I wish I were nothing but dust!”°
SURA 79
Those Who Force Out (Al-Naziʿat)
This early, possibly middle Meccan sura, 46 verses long, begins with a series of invocations, likely angels commanding souls, on the day of resurrection (vv. 1–14). It then shifts to the story of Moses (vv. 15–26) before an appeal to nature as God’s masterpiece (vv. 27–33) and ending with a reminder of the imminent hour (vv. 34–46).
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
SECTION 1
1By the angels who force out
[the souls of the wicked];
2by those who ease out
[the souls of the blessèd];
3by those who glide, swimming,
4and those who strive, racing
5to arrange the world’s affairs
[as commanded]—
6the day when all shall shake
in violent convulsion
[with the first trumpet sound],
7and more convulsion
[with the second sound]—°
8Hearts shall quake that day,
9their eyes downcast, [in dread].
10Now they say, “Shall we
really be brought back
to our former state
11“when we are rotting bones?”
12They say, “This would be
a ruinous return.”
13There will be but a single
deafening blast
14and they shall rise, on a wide expanse.
15Has the story of Moses
reached you,
16when his Lord called to him
in the sacred valley of Tuwa?°
17“Go to Pharaoh,
for he has transgressed,
18“and ask, ‘Are you willing
to purge yourself
19“ ‘and have me guide you
to your Lord,
whom you might then fear?’ ”
20Then Moses showed him
a most stupendous sign°
21but Pharaoh denied it
and disobeyed;
22then he turned his back,
striving [against God].
23He gathered his people,
declaring to them,
24“I am your Lord,
the Most High.”
25So God punished him
as an example, in this life
and the next.°
26In this is a lesson
for those who fear God.
SECTION 2
27Are you harder to create
than the sky that God made?
28He raised its canopy
and proportioned it,
29immersing its night in darkness
and revealing its morning light.
30And after this,
he spread out the earth,
31bringing out its water
and its pasture;
32—anchoring the mountains—
33to provide for you
and for your herds.
34When the great calamity strikes
35on the day that humankind
recalls all that it strove for,
36and the fire of hell appears
for all to see.
37Then, those who transgressed,
38and preferred the life
of this world,
39shall have the fire of hell
as their home.
40But those who feared [the day]
when they would stand before their Lord,
and restrained the desires of self,
41shall have the garden
as their home.
42They ask you about the hour—
“When will it come?”
43But how would you speak of this?
44Its time is known only
to your Lord.
45You merely warn those
who fear it.
46The day they see it,
it will seem as though
they had stayed [on earth]
for but an evening
or a morning.
SURA 80
He Frowned (ʿAbasa)
An early Meccan sura of 42 verses, this offers a divine rebuke to Muhammad for ignoring a blind man (vv. 1–10). It then proceeds to extol scripture as “honored scrolls” (v. 13b) and to chastise humankind as ungrateful (vv. 17–23), even for the food they consume (vv. 24–31), before evoking a scene of the last day (vv. 33–42).
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
1[The Prophet] frowned,
and turned away°
2because the blind man
came to him.
3Prophet, how would you know—
perhaps he might purge himself of sin,
4or heed the teaching°
that might profit him?
5Yet some uncaring person°
6claims your attention
7—though you are not to blame
if he fails to purge himself of sin—
8while the one who came to you
[eagerly] in haste,
9and in awe,
10you dismiss.°
11Why, no! This is a reminder
12for any who would heed it,
13[inscribed] in honored scrolls,
14exalted, and kept pure,
15borne by the hands of scribes
16who are noble and righteous.
17Woe to humankind—
how ungrateful they are!
18From what did He create them?
19He created them from
a sperm drop
and proportioned them,
20then made their path easy.
21Then He caused them to die,
brought them into their grave;
22then, when He wishes,
He will raise them up again.
23Yet they have not fulfilled
what God commanded them.
24Let humankind consider
the food they consume:
25We pour down water
plentifully,
26then We cleave the ground,
27bringing out of it grain,
28vines and vegetation,
29olives and date palms,
30with lush gardens,
31fruits and pasture,
32to provide for you
and your livestock.
33But when the deafening blast comes,
34that day, a man will flee
from his own brother,
35from his mother and father,
36his spouse and his children.
37Each of them, that day,
will be immersed
in their own concerns—
38a day on which some faces
shall beam,
39laughing, rejoicing,
40while other faces that day
shall be covered with dust,
41shrouded in darkness—
42these will be the disbelievers,
the iniquitous.
SURA 81
The Folding Up (Al-Takwir)
A Meccan sura, its 29 verses open with a vivid scene of the last day (vv. 1–14) conveyed to underpin Muhammad’s authority against his critics (vv. 15–29), vouchsafed by the will of God, Lord of the universe (v. 29).
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
SECTION 1
1When the sun is folded up,
2when the stars fall down, scattered,
3when the mountains
move, [vanishing,]°
4when camels, pregnant to term
are left untended,
5when the wild beasts
are herded together,
6when the oceans boil over,
7when souls are paired;°
8when the infant girl,
buried alive, is asked
9for what crime she was killed,
10when the scrolls of deeds
are opened wide,
11when the sky is
torn away,
12when the fire of hell
is set ablaze,
13and when the garden
is brought near—
14then each soul shall know
what it has wrought.
15So, I swear by
the receding [stars]
16that sail and disappear
17and by the night
as it fades away,
18and by the dawn
as it breathes,
19this is the word
of a noble messenger, °
20imbued with strength,
honored by the Lord of the throne,
21obeyed and deemed
worthy of trust.
22Your companion
is not possessed,
23for he saw the Archangel
on the clear horizon,°
24and he does not withhold
what he knows of the unseen.
25Nor is this the word
of some accursed demon.
26So, where are you all heading?
27This is nothing less
than a message
for the whole universe,°
28for those among you who wish
to follow a straight path,
29But you shall not will
except as God wills—
Lord of the universe.
SURA 82
The Cleaving Asunder (Al-Infitar)
An early Meccan sura of 19 verses, this registers the day of reckoning as a celestial cataclysm (vv. 1–4). Its reckoning certain for each soul (vv. 5–16), it will be “the day when God’s command is absolute” (v. 19).
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
1When the sky
is cleaved asunder,
2when the stars
are scattered,
3when the oceans burst
over their shores,
4when graves are turned
upside down—
5then each soul shall know
[the good deeds] it has accrued,
and those it has left undone.
6Humankind, what has misled you,
away from your Noble Lord,
7Who created you, shaped you,
and proportioned you,
8molding you into
whatever form He wished?
9Yet still you deny
the reckoning.
10But watching over you
are angels,
11noble recorders,
12who know all that you do.
13Those who were righteous
shall be in bliss,
14while the wicked
shall be in hellfire,
15where they will burn
on the day of reckoning,
16nor will they be
removed from it.
17What would make you grasp
what the day of reckoning is?
18Yes, what could make you grasp
what the day of reckoning is?
19The day when no soul
can help another soul at all,
the day when God’s command
is absolute.
SURA 83
Those Who Defraud (Al-Mutaffifin)
It’s uncertain whether this is an early or late Meccan sura. It begins by denouncing those who cheat others (vv. 1–17), reminding them of how they will be evaluated “on a momentous day” (v. 5). The second segment of its 36 verses lauds the pious (vv. 18–28) before declaring that they, not the disbelievers, will have the last laugh (vv. 29–36).
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
1Woe to those who defraud,
2who, when receiving from people,
exact full measure,
3but when giving or weighing
for them, fall short in measure.
4Do they
