Hizb 57

Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion, and He is over all things competent -

[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving -

[And] who created seven heavens in layers. You do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency. So return [your] vision [to the sky]; do you see any breaks?

Then return [your] vision twice again. [Your] vision will return to you humbled while it is fatigued.

And We have certainly beautified the nearest heaven with lamps [i.e., stars] and have made [from] them what is thrown at the devils and have prepared for them the punishment of the Blaze.

And for those who disbelieved in their Lord is the punishment of Hell, and wretched is the destination.

When they are thrown into it, they hear from it a [dreadful] inhaling while it boils up.

It almost bursts with rage. Every time a company is thrown into it, its keepers ask them, "Did there not come to you a warner?"

They will say, "Yes, a warner had come to us, but we denied and said, 'Allāh has not sent down anything. You are not but in great error.'"

And they will say, "If only we had been listening or reasoning, we would not be among the companions of the Blaze."

And they will admit their sin, so [it is] alienation for the companions of the Blaze.

Indeed, those who fear their Lord unseen will have forgiveness and great reward.

And conceal your speech or publicize it; indeed, He is Knowing of that within the breasts.

Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Aware?

It is He who made the earth tame for you - so walk among its slopes and eat of His provision - and to Him is the resurrection.

Do you feel secure that He who is above would not cause the earth to swallow you and suddenly it would sway?

Or do you feel secure that He who is above would not send against you a storm of stones? Then you would know how [severe] was My warning.

And already had those before them denied, and how [terrible] was My reproach.

Do they not see the birds above them with wings outspread and [sometimes] folded in? None holds them [aloft] except the Most Merciful. Indeed He is, of all things, Seeing.

Or who is it that could be an army for you to aid you other than the Most Merciful? The disbelievers are not but in delusion.

Or who is it that could provide for you if He withheld His provision? But they have persisted in insolence and aversion.

Then is one who walks fallen on his face better guided or one who walks erect on a straight path?

Say, "It is He who has produced you and made for you hearing and vision and hearts [i.e., intellect]; little are you grateful."

Say, "It is He who has multiplied you throughout the earth, and to Him you will be gathered."

And they say, "When is this promise, if you should be truthful?"

Say, "The knowledge is only with Allāh, and I am only a clear warner."

But when they see it approaching, the faces of those who disbelieve will be distressed, and it will be said, "This is that for which you used to call."

Say, [O Muḥammad], "Have you considered: whether Allāh should cause my death and those with me or have mercy upon us, who can protect the disbelievers from a painful punishment?"

Say, "He is the Most Merciful; we have believed in Him, and upon Him we have relied. And you will [come to] know who it is that is in clear error."

Say, "Have you considered: if your water was to become sunken [into the earth], then who could bring you flowing water?"

Nūn. By the pen and what they inscribe,

You are not, [O Muḥammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman.

And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted.

And indeed, you are of a great moral character.

So you will see and they will see.

Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil].

Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided.

Then do not obey the deniers.

They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you].

And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer

[And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip -

A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful,

Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender.

Because he is a possessor of wealth and children,

When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples."

We will brand him upon the snout.

Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning

Without making exception.

So there came upon it [i.e., the garden] an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep.

And it became as though reaped.

And they called one another at morning,

[Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit."

So they set out, while lowering their voices,

[Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person."

And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able.

But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost;

Rather, we have been deprived."

The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allāh]?'"

They said, "Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers."

Then they approached one another, blaming each other.

They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors.

Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous."

Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew.

Indeed, for the righteous with their Lord are the Gardens of Pleasure.

Then will We treat the Muslims like the criminals?

What is [the matter] with you? How do you judge?

Or do you have a scripture in which you learn

That indeed for you is whatever you choose?

Or do you have oaths [binding] upon Us, extending until the Day of Resurrection, that indeed for you is whatever you judge?

Ask them which of them, for that [claim], is responsible.

Or do they have partners? Then let them bring their partners, if they should be truthful.

The Day the shin will be uncovered and they are invited to prostration but they [i.e., the disbelievers] will not be able,

Their eyes humbled, humiliation will cover them. And they used to be invited to prostration while they were sound.

So leave Me, [O Muḥammad], with [the matter of] whoever denies this statement [i.e., the Qur’ān]. We will progressively lead them [to punishment] from where they do not know.

And I will give them time. Indeed, My plan is firm.

Or do you ask of them a payment, so they are by debt burdened down?

Or have they [knowledge of] the unseen, so they write [it] down?

Then be patient for the decision of your Lord, [O Muḥammad], and be not like the companion of the fish [i.e., Jonah] when he called out while he was distressed.

If not that a favor [i.e., mercy] from his Lord overtook him, he would have been thrown onto the naked shore while he was censured.

And his Lord chose him and made him of the righteous.

And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their eyes [i.e., looks] when they hear the message, and they say, "Indeed, he is mad."

But it is not except a reminder to the worlds.

The Inevitable Reality -

What is the Inevitable Reality?

And what can make you know what is the Inevitable Reality?

Thamūd and ʿAad denied the Striking Calamity [i.e., the Resurrection].

So as for Thamūd, they were destroyed by the overpowering [blast].

And as for ʿAad, they were destroyed by a screaming, violent wind

Which He [i.e., Allāh] imposed upon them for seven nights and eight days in succession, so you would see the people therein fallen as if they were hollow trunks of palm trees.

Then do you see of them any remains?

And there came Pharaoh and those before him and the overturned cities with sin.

And they disobeyed the messenger of their Lord, so He seized them with a seizure exceeding [in severity].

Indeed, when the water overflowed, We carried you [i.e., your ancestors] in the sailing ship

That We might make it for you a reminder and [that] a conscious ear would be conscious of it.

Then when the Horn is blown with one blast

And the earth and the mountains are lifted and leveled with one blow [i.e., stroke] -

Then on that Day, the Occurrence [i.e., Resurrection] will occur,

And the heaven will split [open], for that Day it is infirm.

And the angels are at its edges. And there will bear the Throne of your Lord above them, that Day, eight [of them].

That Day, you will be exhibited [for judgement]; not hidden among you is anything concealed.

So as for he who is given his record in his right hand, he will say, "Here, read my record!

Indeed, I was certain that I would be meeting my account."

So he will be in a pleasant life -

In an elevated garden,

Its [fruit] to be picked hanging near.

[They will be told], "Eat and drink in satisfaction for what you put forth in the days past."

But as for he who is given his record in his left hand, he will say, "Oh, I wish I had not been given my record

And had not known what is my account.

I wish it [i.e., my death] had been the decisive one.

My wealth has not availed me.

Gone from me is my authority."

[Allāh will say], "Seize him and shackle him.

Then into Hellfire drive him.

Then into a chain whose length is seventy cubits insert him."

Indeed, he did not used to believe in Allāh, the Most Great,

Nor did he encourage the feeding of the poor.

So there is not for him here this Day any devoted friend

Nor any food except from the discharge of wounds;

None will eat it except the sinners.

So I swear by what you see

And what you do not see

[That] indeed, it [i.e., the Qur’ān] is the word of a noble Messenger.

And it is not the word of a poet; little do you believe.

Nor the word of a soothsayer; little do you remember.

[It is] a revelation from the Lord of the worlds.

And if he [i.e., Muḥammad] had made up about Us some [false] sayings,

We would have seized him by the right hand;

Then We would have cut from him the aorta.

And there is no one of you who could prevent [Us] from him.

And indeed, it [i.e., the Qur’ān] is a reminder for the righteous.

And indeed, We know that among you are deniers.

And indeed, it will be [a cause of] regret upon the disbelievers.

And indeed, it is the truth of certainty.

So exalt the name of your Lord, the Most Great.

A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen

To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer.

[It is] from Allāh, owner of the ways of ascent.

The angels and the Spirit [i.e., Gabriel] will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years.

So be patient with gracious patience.

Indeed, they see it [as] distant,

But We see it [as] near.

On the Day the sky will be like murky oil,

And the mountains will be like wool,

And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend,

They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children.

And his wife and his brother

And his nearest kindred who shelter him.

And whoever is on earth entirely [so] then it could save him.

No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell],

A remover of exteriors.

It invites he who turned his back [on truth] and went away [from obedience]

And collected [wealth] and hoarded.

Indeed, mankind was created anxious:

When evil touches him, impatient,

And when good touches him, withholding [of it],

Except the observers of prayer -

Those who are constant in their prayer

And those within whose wealth is a known right

For the petitioner and the deprived -

And those who believe in the Day of Recompense

And those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord -

Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe -

And those who guard their private parts

Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed -

But whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors -

And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive.

And those who are in their testimonies upright

And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer:

They will be in gardens, honored.

So what is [the matter] with those who disbelieve, hastening [from] before you, [O Muḥammad],

[To sit] on [your] right and [your] left in separate groups?

Does every person among them aspire to enter a garden of pleasure?

No! Indeed, We have created them from that which they know.

So I swear by the Lord of [all] risings and settings that indeed We are able

To replace them with better than them; and We are not to be outdone.

So leave them to converse vainly and amuse themselves until they meet their Day which they are promised -

The Day they will emerge from the graves rapidly as if they were, toward an erected idol, hastening.

Their eyes humbled, humiliation will cover them. That is the Day which they had been promised.

Indeed, We sent Noah to his people, [saying], "Warn your people before there comes to them a painful punishment."

He said, "O my people, indeed I am to you a clear warner -

To worship Allāh, fear Him and obey me.

He [i.e., Allāh] will forgive you of your sins and delay you for a specified term. Indeed, the time [set by] Allāh, when it comes, will not be delayed, if you only knew."

He said, "My Lord, indeed I invited my people [to truth] night and day.

But my invitation increased them not except in flight [i.e., aversion].

And indeed, every time I invited them that You may forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears, covered themselves with their garments, persisted, and were arrogant with [great] arrogance.

Then I invited them publicly.

Then I announced to them and [also] confided to them secretly

And said, 'Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Indeed, He is ever a Perpetual Forgiver.

He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in [continuing] showers

And give you increase in wealth and children and provide for you gardens and provide for you rivers.

What is [the matter] with you that you do not attribute to Allāh [due] grandeur

While He has created you in stages?

Do you not consider how Allāh has created seven heavens in layers

And made the moon therein a [reflected] light and made the sun a burning lamp?

And Allāh has caused you to grow from the earth a [progressive] growth.

Then He will return you into it and extract you [another] extraction.

And Allāh has made for you the earth an expanse

That you may follow therein roads of passage.'"

Noah said, "My Lord, indeed they have disobeyed me and followed him whose wealth and children will not increase him except in loss.

And they conspired an immense conspiracy

And said, 'Never leave your gods and never leave Wadd or Suwāʿ or Yaghūth and Yaʿūq and Nasr.'

And already they have misled many. And, [my Lord], do not increase the wrongdoers except in error."

Because of their sins they were drowned and put into the Fire, and they found not for themselves besides Allāh [any] helpers.

And Noah said, "My Lord, do not leave upon the earth from among the disbelievers an inhabitant.

Indeed, if You leave them, they will mislead Your servants and not beget except [every] wicked one and [confirmed] disbeliever.

My Lord, forgive me and my parents and whoever enters my house a believer and the believing men and believing women. And do not increase the wrongdoers except in destruction."