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[1] O THOU [in thy solitude] enfolded!
[2] Arise and warn!
[3] And thy Sustainer's greatness glorify!
[4] And thine inner self purify!
[5] And all defilement shun!
[6] And do not through giving seek thyself to gain,
[7] but unto thy Sustainer turn in patience.
[8] And [warn all men that] when the trumpet-call [of resurrection] is sounded,
[9] that very Day shall be a day of anguish,
[10] not of ease, for all who [now] deny the truth!
[11] LEAVE Me alone [to deal] with him whom I have created alone,
[12] and to whom I have granted resources vast,
[13] and children as [love's] witnesses,
[14] and to whose life I gave so wide a scope:
[15] and yet, he greedily desires that I give yet more!
[16] Nay, verily, it is against Our messages that he knowingly, stubbornly sets himself
[17] [and so] I shall constrain him to endure a painful uphill climb!
[18] Behold, [when Our messages are conveyed to one who is bent on denying the truth,] he reflects and meditates [as to how to disprove them] –
[19] and thus he destroys himself, the way he meditates:
[20] yea, he destroys himself, the way he meditates!
[21] and then he looks [around for new arguments],
[22] and then he frowns and glares,
[23] and in the end he turns his back [on Our message], and glories in his arrogance,
[24] and says, "All this is mere spellbinding eloquence handed down [from olden times]!
[25] This is nothing but the word of mortal man!"
[26] [Hence,] I shall cause him to endure hell-fire [in the life to come]!
[27] And what could make thee conceive what hell-fire is?
[28] It does not allow to live, and neither leaves [to die],
[29] making [all truth] visible to mortal man.
[30] Over it are nineteen [powers].
[31] For We have caused none but angelic powers to lord over the fire [of hell]; and We have not caused their number to be aught but a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth - to the end that they who have been granted revelation aforetime might be convinced [of the truth of this divine writ]; and that they who have attained to faith [in it] might grow yet more firm in their faith; and that [both] they who have been granted the earlier revelation and they who believe [in this one] might be freed of all doubt; and that they in whose hearts is disease and the who deny the truth outright might ask, "What does [your] God mean by this parable?" In this way God lets go astray him that wills [to go astray], and guides aright him that wills [to be guided]. And none can comprehend thy Sustainers forces save Him alone: and all this is but a reminder to mortal man.
[32] NAY, but consider the moon!
[33] Consider the night when it departs,
[34] and the morn when it dawns!
[35] Verily, that [hell-fire) is Indeed one of the great [forewarnings] –
[36] a warning to mortal man –
[37] to everyone of you, whether he chooses to come forward or to hang back!
[38] [On the Day of Judgment,] every human being will be held in pledge for whatever [evil] he has wrought –
[39] save those who shall have attained to righteousness:
[40] [dwelling] In gardens [of paradise], they will inquire
[41] of those who were lost in sin:
[42] "What has brought you into hell-fire?"
[43] They will answer: "We were not among those who prayed;
[44] and neither did we feed the needy;
[45] and we were wont to indulge in sinning together with all [the others] who indulged in it;
[46] and the Day of Judgment we were wont to call a lie –
[47] until certainty came upon us [in death]."
[48] And so, of no benefit to them could be the intercession of any that would intercede for them.
[49] WHAT, THEN, is amiss with them that they turn away from all admonition
[50] as though they were terrified asses
[51] fleeing from a lion?
[52] Yea, everyone of them claims that he [himself] ought to have been given revelations unfolded!
[53] Nay, but they do not [believe in and, hence, do not] fear the life to come.
[54] Nay, verily, this is an admonition –
[55] and whoever wills may take it to heart.
[56] But they [who do not believe in the life to come] will not take it to heart unless God so wills: [for] He is the Fount of all God-consciousness, and the Fount of all forgiveness.