No! I swear by the Day of Rising!
No! I swear by the self-reproaching self.
Does man imagine We will not reassemble his bones?
On the contrary! We are well able to reshape his fingers.
Yet man still wants to deny what is ahead of him,
asking, ´So when is the Day of Rising?´
But when the eyesight is dazzled,
and the moon is eclipsed,
and the sun and moon are fused together,
on that Day man will say, ´Where can I run?´
No indeed! There will be no safe place.
That Day the only resting place will be your Lord.
That Day man will be told what he did and failed to do.
In fact, man will be clear proof against himself
in spite of any excuses he might offer.
Do not move your tongue trying to hasten it.
Its collection and recitation are Our affair.
So when We recite it, follow its recitation.
Then its explanation is Our concern.
No indeed! But you love this fleeting world
and you disregard the Next World.
Faces that Day will be radiant,
gazing at their Lord.
And faces that Day will be glowering,
realising that a back-breaking blow has fallen.
No indeed! When it reaches the gullet
and he hears the words, ´Who can heal him now?´
and he knows it is indeed the final parting,
and one leg is entwined with the other:
that Day he will be driven to your Lord.
He neither affirmed the truth nor did he do salat,
but rather denied the truth and turned away.
and then went off to his family, swaggering.
It is coming closer to you and closer.
Then closer to you and closer still.
Does man reckon he will be left to go on unchecked?
Was he not a drop of ejaculated sperm,
then a blood-clot which He created and shaped,
making from it both sexes, male and female?
Is He who does this not able to bring the dead to life?