I [need] not swear by the Day of Resurrection
And I need not swear by the self-reproaching soul
Does man reckon that WE are not to put his bones together?
O yes! WE are ever almightily capable over the exact restoration of his fingertips
Nay! Man wants to break open his future
He asks, “Just when is the Day of Resurrection?”
Then, when the sight is dazed
And the moon disappears
And the sun and the moon are collected—
That day, man will ask, “Where is the place to flee?”
Not to be! Not any stronghold for refuge.
Unto your Rabb that day is the final habitation.
Fully informed will man be that day about what he sent ahead and what he failed to deliver.
Rather, man has full insight into his own soul—
even if he tenders his excuses.
Do not belabor your tongue with [the Quran], so to hasten with it
Of certain, its collection and its recitation are upon US.
So, when WE recite it— follow its recitation.
Further to that, certainly its elucidation [and dissemination] are upon US.
By no means [will anyone have an excuse]. Nay, you all love the temporal,
While you put aside the Hereafter.
[Countless] faces that day aglow,
Locked in gaze, toward their Rabb.
And [countless] faces that day tense
anticipating that they will be subjected to a backbreaker.
Not ever [will you escape death]. When [the soul] reaches the collarbones,
and it is asked, “Who is a charmer to turn time back?”
While he has surmised that it is the time of parting.
And the leg entwined with the leg,
unto your Rabb that day is the headway.
Yet [with an insight into his deeds], he did not affirmatively believe, nor did he pray—
But he did give the lie to the truth and had turned away
then headed back swaggering to his people.
Closer [is that moment of death] for you— yet closer now
Then, closer [is the day of Judgment] for you – yet closer now.
Does man figure that he will be left unaccounted for?
Was he not a drop from semen ejected?
Thereafter he was a leech-like clot— [nameless until] HE created, and [faceless until] HE shaped?
Then HE made from it, the complementary pair— the male and the female.
Is not that [One] every wise almightily capable of giving life to the dead?