— 52 verses
The Inevitable Hour
What is the Inevitable Hour
And what will make you realize what the Inevitable Hour is
The tribes of Thamud and Ad denied that disaster would strike them
the Thamud were destroyed by a terrible storm of thunder and lightning
and the Ad were destroyed by a furious win
which God let loose against them for seven nights and eight days unremittingly, so that you could have seen its people lying prostrate as though they were the hollow trunks of palm-trees which had fallen down
Do you see any vestige left of them now
Pharoah and those before him and the inhabitants of the overthrown cities persistently committed grave sins
They defied their Lords messenger, so He seized them with an ever-tightening grip
But We bore you away in the Ark, when the waters rose high
so that We might make it a reminder for you and so that attentive ears might retain it
When a single blast is blown on the trumpet
and the earth and the mountains are lifted up and then crushed with a single blow
on that Day the Great Event will come to pass
And the sky will be rent asunder, for on that Day it will be so frail
The angels will appear by its sides and, on that Day, eight [angels] will bear your Lords throne above them
On that Day you will be brought to judgement and none of your secrets will remain hidden.[46]
Then he who is given his record in his right hand will exclaim, Here is my record, read it
Surely, I knew that I should meet my reckoning
so he will live in a state of Bliss
in a lofty garden
with clusters of fruit within easy reach
We shall say to him, Eat and drink joyfully as a reward for the good deeds you did in days gone by
But he who is given his record in his left hand will say, If only I had never been given my Record
and knew nothing of my reckoning
How I wish my death had ended all
My wealth has been of no use to me
I am bereft of power
Seize him and fetter him
and then let him enter Hell
Then fasten him with a chain seventy cubits long
for he did not believe in Almighty God
nor did he feel any urge to feed the needy
so today he has no friend here
and the only food he has is filt
which no one will eat except the sinners
But nay, I swear by all that you can se
as well as all that you cannot see
most surely, this is the word brought by a noble messenger
it is not the word of a poethow little you believe
Nor is it the word of a soothsayerhow little you reflect
It is a revelation sent down by the Sustainer of the Universe
if he had invented any lies about Us
We would indeed have seized him by his right han
and would indeed have cut his life-vein
and none of you could have held Us off from him
And surely it is an admonition to the God-fearing
We know very well that there are some among you who reject Our sign
it will be a source of bitter regret for those who deny the truth
it is the indubitable truth
So glorify the name of your Lord, the Almighty