CONSIDER Mount Sinai ! (asad) Audio   ⟶

Consider [God’s] revelation, inscribed (asad) Audio   ⟶

on wide-open scrolls. (asad) Audio   ⟶

Consider the long-enduring house [of worship]! (asad) Audio   ⟶

Consider the vault [of heaven] raised high! (asad) Audio   ⟶

Consider the surf-swollen sea! (asad) Audio   ⟶

VERILY, [O man,] the suffering decreed by thy Sustainer [for the sinners] will indeed come to pass: (asad) Audio   ⟶

there is none who could avert it. (asad) Audio   ⟶

[It will come to pass] on the Day when the skies will be convulsed in [a great] convulsion, (asad) Audio   ⟶

and the mountains will move with [an awesome] movement. (asad) Audio   ⟶

Woe, then, on that Day to all who give the lie to the truth – (asad) Audio   ⟶

all those who [throughout their lives] but idly played with things vain – (asad) Audio   ⟶

on the Day when they shall be thrust into the fire with [an irresistible] thrust, [and will be told:] (asad) Audio   ⟶

“This is the fire which you were wont to call a lie! (asad) Audio   ⟶

Was it, then, a delusion or is it that you failed to see [its truth]? (asad) Audio   ⟶

Endure it [now]! But [whether you] bear yourselves with patience or without patience, it will be the same to you: you are but being requited for what you were wont to do.” (asad) Audio   ⟶

[But,] verily, the God-conscious will find themselves [on that Day] in gardens and in bliss, (asad) Audio   ⟶

rejoicing in all that their Sustainer will have granted them: for their Sustainer will have warded off from them all suffering through the blazing fire. (asad) Audio   ⟶

[And they will be told:] “Eat and drink with good cheer as an outcome of what you were wont to do, (asad) Audio   ⟶

reclining on couches [of happiness] ranged in rows!” And [in that paradise] We shall mate them with companions pure, most beautiful of eye. (asad) Audio   ⟶

And as for those who have attained to faith and whose offspring will have followed them in faith, We shall unite them with their offspring; and We shall not let aught of their deeds go to waste: [but] every human being will be held in pledge for whatever he has earned. (asad) Audio   ⟶

And We shall bestow on them fruit and meat in abundance - whatever they may desire: (asad) Audio   ⟶

and in that [paradise] they shall pass on to one another a cup which will not give rise to empty talk, and neither incite to sin. (asad) Audio   ⟶

And they will be waited upon by [immortal] youths, [as if they were children] of their own, [as pure] as if they were pearls hidden in their shells. (asad) Audio   ⟶

And they [who are thus blest] will turn to one another, asking each other [about their past lives]. (asad) Audio   ⟶

They will say: “Behold, aforetime - when we were [still living] in the midst of our kith and kin - we were full of fear [at the thought of God’s dis­pleasure]: (asad) Audio   ⟶

and so God has graced us with His favour, and has warded off from us all suffering through the scorching winds [of frustration]. (asad) Audio   ⟶

Verily, we did invoke Him [alone] ere this: [and now He has shown us] that He alone is truly benign, a true dispenser of grace!” (asad) Audio   ⟶

EXHORT, then, [O Prophet, all men:] for, by thy Sustainer’s grace, thou art neither a soothsayer nor a madman. (asad) Audio   ⟶

Or do they say, “[He is but] a poet - let us wait what time will do unto him”? (asad) Audio   ⟶

Say thou: “Wait, [then,] hopefully; behold, I, too, shall hopefully wait with you!” (asad) Audio   ⟶

Is it their minds that bid them [to take] this [attitude] - or are they [simply] people filled with overweening arrogance? (asad) Audio   ⟶

Or do they say, “He himself has composed this [message]”? Nay, but they are not willing to believe! (asad) Audio   ⟶

But then, [if they deem it the work of a mere mortal,] let them produce another discourse like it - if what they say be true! (asad) Audio   ⟶

[Or do they deny the existence of God?] Have they themselves been created without anything [that might have caused their creation]? or were they, perchance, their own creators? (asad) Audio   ⟶

[And] have they created the heavens and the earth? Nay, but they have no certainty of anything! (asad) Audio   ⟶

[How could they?] Are thy Sustainer’s treasures with them? Or are they in charge [of destiny]? (asad) Audio   ⟶

Or have they a ladder by which they could [ascend to ultimate truths and] listen [to what is beyond the reach of human perception]? Let, then, any of them who have listened [to it] produce a manifest proof [of his knowledge]! (asad) Audio   ⟶

Or, [if you believe in God, how can you believe that] He has [chosen to have] daughters, whereas you yourselves would have [only] sons? (asad) Audio   ⟶

Or is it that [they who reject thy message, O Muhammad, fear lest] thou ask of them a reward, so that they would be burdened with debt [if they should listen to thee]? (asad) Audio   ⟶

Or [do they think] that the hidden reality [of all that exists] is almost within their grasp, so that [in time] they can write it down? (asad) Audio   ⟶

Or do they want to entrap [thee in contradic­tions]? But they who are bent on denying the truth - it is they who are truly entrapped! (asad) Audio   ⟶

Have they, then, any deity other than God? Utterly remote is God, in His limitless glory, from anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity! (asad) Audio   ⟶

AND YET, if they [who refuse to see the truth] were to see part of the sky falling down, they would [only] say, “[It is but] a mass of clouds!” (asad) Audio   ⟶

Hence, leave them alone until they face that [Judgment] Day of theirs, when they will be stricken with terror: (asad) Audio   ⟶

the Day when none of their scheming will be of the least avail to them, and they will receive no succour. (asad) Audio   ⟶

But, verily, for those who are bent on doing evil, there is suffering in store [even] closer at hand than that [supreme suffering in the hereafter]: but most of them are not aware of it. (asad) Audio   ⟶

And so, await in patience thy Sustainer’s judgment, for thou art well within Our sight. And extol thy Sustainer’s limitless glory and praise whenever thou risest up, (asad) Audio   ⟶

and extol His glory at night, and at the time when the stars retreat. (asad) Audio   ⟶