Qaf By the Glorious Qur´an!
Nonetheless they are amazed that a warner should have come to them from among themselves and those who are kafir say, ´What an extraordinary thing!
When we are dead and turned to dust . . . ? That would be a most unlikely return!´
We know exactly how the earth eats them away. We possess an all-preserving Book.
But they denied the truth when it came to them. They are, therefore, in a very muddled state.
Have they not looked at the sky above them: how We structured it and made it beautiful and how there are no fissures in it?
And the earth: how We stretched it out and cast firmly embedded mountains onto it and caused luxuriant plants of every kind to grow in it,
an instruction and a reminder for every penitent human being.
And We sent down blessed water from the sky and made gardens grow by it and grain for harvesting
and soaring date-palms with layered spathes,
as provision for Our slaves; by it We brought a dead land to life. That is how the Emergence will take place.
Before them the people of Nuh also denied the truth and the Companions of Rass and Thamud,
and ´Ad and Pharaoh and the brothers of Lut
and the Companions of the Thicket and the people of Tubba´. Each one denied the Messengers and My promise proved true.
Were We exhausted by the first creation? Yet they are dubious about the new creation.
We created man and We know what his own self whispers to him. We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.
And the two recording angels are recording, sitting on the right and on the left.
He does not utter a single word, without a watcher by him, pen in hand!
The throes of death come revealing the truth. That is what you were trying to evade!
The Trumpet will be blown. That is the Day of the Threat.
Every self will come together with a driver and a witness:
´You were heedless of this so We have stripped you of your covering and today your sight is sharp.´
His inseparable comrade will say, ´This is what I have ready for you.´
´Hurl into Hell every obdurate kafir,
impeder of good, doubt-causing aggressor,
who set up another god together with Allah. Hurl him into the terrible punishment.´
His inseparable comrade will say, ´Our Lord, I did not make him overstep the limits. He was, in any case, far astray.´
He will say, ´Do not argue in My presence when I gave you advance warning of the Threat.
My Word, once given, is not subject to change and I do not wrong My slaves.´
On the Day He says to Hell, ´Are you full?´ it will ask, ´Are there no more to come?´
And the Garden will be brought up close to those with taqwa, not far away:
´This is what you were promised. It is for every careful penitent:
those who fear the All-Merciful in the Unseen and come with a contrite heart.
Enter it in peace. This is the Day of Timeless Eternity.´
They will have there everything they want and with Us there is still more.
How many generations before them We destroyed who had greater force than them and scoured many lands! Did they find any way of escape?
There is a reminder in that for anyone who has a heart, or who listens well, having seen the evidence.
We created the heavens and the earth, and everything between them, in six days and We were not affected by fatigue.
So be patient in the face of what they say and glorify your Lord with praise before the rising of the sun and before it sets.
And glorify Him during the night and after you have prostrated.
Listen out for the Day when the Summoner shall call out from a nearby place.
The Day they hear the Blast in truth, that is the Day of Emergence.
It is We who give life and cause to die and We are their final destination.
The Day the earth splits open all around them as they come rushing forth, that is a gathering, easy for Us to accomplish.
We know best what they say. You are not a dictator over them. So remind, with the Qur´an, whoever fears My Threat.