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[1] Ha. Mim.
[2] CONSIDER this divine writ, clear in itself and clearly showing the truth!
[3] Behold, from on high have We bestowed it on a blessed night: for, verily, We have always been warning [man].
[4] On that [night] was made clear, in wisdom, the distinction between all things [good and evil]
[5] at a behest from Ourselves: for, verily, We have always been sending [Our messages of guidance]
[6] in purÂsuance of thy Sustainer’s grace [unto man]. Verily, He alone is all-hearing, all-knowing,
[7] the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them - if you could but grasp it with inner certainty!
[8] There is no deity save Him: He grants life and deals death: He is your Sustainer as well as the Sustainer of your forebears of old.
[9] Nay, but they [who lack inner certainty] are but Dying with their doubts.
[10] WAIT, THEN, for the Day when the skies shall bring forth a pall of smoke which will make obvious [the approach of the Last Hour],
[11] enveloping all mankind, [and causing the sinners to exclaim:] “Grievous is this suffering!
[12] O our Sustainer, relieve us of suffering, for, verily, we [now] believe [in Thee]!”
[13] [But] how shall this remembrance avail them [at the Last Hour], seeing that an apostle had preÂviously come unto them, clearly expounding the truth,
[14] whereupon they turned their backs on him and said, “Taught [by others] is he, a madman”?
[15] [Still,] behold, We shall postpone this sufferÂing for a little while, although you are bound to revert [to your evil ways: but]
[16] on the Day when We shall seize [all sinners] with a most mighty onslaught, We shall, verily, inflict Our retribution [on you as well]!
[17] AND, INDEED, [long] before their time did We try Pharaoh’s people [in the same way]: for there came unto them a noble apostle, [who said:]
[18] “Give in unto me, O God’s bondmen! Verily, I am an apostle [sent] unto you, worthy of trust!
[19] “And exalt not yourselves against God: for, verily, I come unto you with a manifest authority [from Him];
[20] and, behold, it is with my Sustainer - and your Sustainer - that I seek refuge against all your endeavours to revile me.
[21] And if you do not believe me, [at least] stand away from me!”
[22] But then, [when they beset him with their enmity,] he called out to his Sustainer, “These are [indeed] people lost in sin!”
[23] And [God said]: “Go thou forth with My servants by night, for you will surely be pursued;
[24] and leave the sea becalmed [between thee and Pharaoh’s men]: for, verily, they are a host destined to be drowned!”
[25] [And so they perished: and] how many gardens did they leave behind, and water-runnels,
[26] and fields of grain, and noble dwellings,
[27] and [all that] life of ease in which they used to delight!
[28] Thus it was. And [then] We made another people heirs [to what they had left],
[29] and neither sky nor earth shed tears over them, nor were they allowed a respite.
[30] And, indeed, We delivered the children of Israel from the shameful suffering
[31] [inflicted on them] by Pharaoh, seeing that he was truly outstandÂing among those who waste their own selves;
[32] and indeed, We chose them knowingly above all other people,
[33] and gave them such signs [of Our grace] as would clearly presage a test.
[34] [Now,] behold, these [people] say indeed:
[35] “That [which is ahead of us] is but our first [and only] death, and we shall not be raised to life again.
[36] So then, bring forth our forefathers [as witnesses], if what you claim is true!”
[37] Are they, then, better than the people of Tubba and those before them, whom We destroyed because they were truly lost in [the same] sin?
[38] For [thus it is:] We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in mere idle play:
[39] none of this have We created without [an inner] truth: but most of them underÂstand it not.
[40] VERILY, the Day of Distinction [between the true and the false] is the term appointed for all of them:
[41] the Day when no friend shall be of the least avail to his friend, and when none shall be succoured
[42] save those upon whom God will have bestowed His grace and mercy: for, verily, He alone is almighty, a dispenser of grace.
[43] Verily, [in the life to come] the tree of deadly fruit
[44] will be the food of the sinful:
[45] like molten lead will it boil in the belly,
[46] like the boiling of burning despair.
[47] [And the word will be spoken:] “Seize him, [O you forces of hell,] and drag him into the midst of the blazing fire:
[48] then pour over his head the anguish of burning despair!
[49] Taste it - thou who [on earth] hast considered thyself so mighty, so noble!
[50] This is the very thing which you [deniers of the truth] were wont to call in question!”
[51] [As against this -] verily, the God-conscious will find themselves in a state secure,
[52] amid gardens and springs,
[53] wearing [garments] of silk and brocade, facing one another [in love].
[54] Thus shall it be. And We shall pair them with companions pure, most beautiful of eye.
[55] In that [paradise] they shall [rightfully] claim all the fruits [of their past deeds], resting in security;
[56] and neither shall they taste death there after having passed through their erstwhile death. Thus will He have preserved them from all sufferÂing through the blazing fire-
[57] an act of thy Sustainer’s favour: and that, that will be the triumph supreme!
[58] THUS, THEN, [O Prophet,] have We made this [divine writ] easy to understand, in thine own [human] tongue, so that men might take it to heart.
[59] So wait thou [for what the future will bring]: behold, they, too, are waiting.