74:1  O THOU [in thy solitude] enfolded

74:2  Arise and warn

74:3  And thy Sustainer's greatness glorify

74:4  And thine inner self purify

74:5  And all defilement shun

74:6  And do not through giving seek thyself to gain

74:7  but unto thy Sustainer turn in patience

74:8  And [warn all men that] when the trumpet-call [of resurrection] is sounded

74:9  that very Day shall be a day of anguish

74:10  not of ease, for all who [now] deny the truth

74:11  LEAVE Me alone [to deal] with him whom I have created alone

74:12  and to whom I have granted resources vast

74:13  and children as [love's] witnesses

74:14  and to whose life I gave so wide a scope

74:15  and yet, he greedily desires that I give yet more

74:16  Nay, verily, it is against Our messages that he knowingly, stubbornly sets himsel

74:17  [and so] I shall constrain him to endure a painful uphill climb

74:18  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] –

74:19  and thus he destroys himself, the way he meditates

74:20  yea, he destroys himself, the way he meditates

74:21  and then he looks [around for new arguments]

74:22  and then he frowns and glares

74:23  and in the end he turns his back [on Our message], and glories in his arrogance

74:24  and says, "All this is mere spellbinding eloquence handed down [from olden times]

74:25  This is nothing but the word of mortal man!"

74:26  [Hence,] I shall cause him to endure hell-fire [in the life to come]

74:27  And what could make thee conceive what hell-fire is

74:28  It does not allow to live, and neither leaves [to die]

74:29  making [all truth] visible to mortal man

74:30  Over it are nineteen [powers]

74:31  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

74:32  NAY, but consider the moon

74:33  Consider the night when it departs

74:34  and the morn when it dawns

74:35  Verily, that [hell-fire) is Indeed one of the great [forewarnings] –

74:36  a warning to mortal man –

74:37  to everyone of you, whether he chooses to come forward or to hang back

74:38  [On the Day of Judgment,] every human being will be held in pledge for whatever [evil] he has wrought –

74:39  save those who shall have attained to righteousness

74:40  [dwelling] In gardens [of paradise], they will inquir

74:41  of those who were lost in sin

74:42  "What has brought you into hell-fire?"

74:43  They will answer: "We were not among those who prayed

74:44  and neither did we feed the needy

74:45  and we were wont to indulge in sinning together with all [the others] who indulged in it

74:46  and the Day of Judgment we were wont to call a lie –

74:47  until certainty came upon us [in death]."

74:48  And so, of no benefit to them could be the intercession of any that would intercede for them

74:49  WHAT, THEN, is amiss with them that they turn away from all admonitio

74:50  as though they were terrified asse

74:51  fleeing from a lion

74:52  Yea, everyone of them claims that he [himself] ought to have been given revelations unfolded

74:53  Nay, but they do not [believe in and, hence, do not] fear the life to come

74:54  Nay, verily, this is an admonition –

74:55  and whoever wills may take it to heart

74:56  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