52:1  CONSIDER Mount Sinai

52:2  Consider [God’s] revelation, inscribe

52:3  on wide-open scrolls

52:4  Consider the long-enduring house [of worship]

52:5  Consider the vault [of heaven] raised high

52:6  Consider the surf-swollen sea

52:7  VERILY, [O man,] the suffering decreed by thy Sustainer [for the sinners] will indeed come to pass

52:8  there is none who could avert it

52:9  [It will come to pass] on the Day when the skies will be convulsed in [a great] convulsion

52:10  and the mountains will move with [an awesome] movement

52:11  Woe, then, on that Day to all who give the lie to the truth –

52:12  all those who [throughout their lives] but idly played with things vain –

52:13  on the Day when they shall be thrust into the fire with [an irresistible] thrust, [and will be told:]

52:14  “This is the fire which you were wont to call a lie

52:15  Was it, then, a delusion or is it that you failed to see [its truth]

52:16  Endure it [now]! But [whether you] bear yourselves with patience or without patience, it will be the same to you: you are but being requited for what you were wont to do.”

52:17  [But,] verily, the God-conscious will find themselves [on that Day] in gardens and in bliss

52:18  rejoicing in all that their Sustainer will have granted them: for their Sustainer will have warded off from them all suffering through the blazing fire

52:19  [And they will be told:] “Eat and drink with good cheer as an outcome of what you were wont to do

52:20  reclining on couches [of happiness] ranged in rows!” And [in that paradise] We shall mate them with companions pure, most beautiful of eye

52:21  And as for those who have attained to faith and whose offspring will have followed them in faith, We shall unite them with their offspring; and We shall not let aught of their deeds go to waste: [but] every human being will be held in pledge for whatever he has earned

52:22  And We shall bestow on them fruit and meat in abundance - whatever they may desire

52:23  and in that [paradise] they shall pass on to one another a cup which will not give rise to empty talk, and neither incite to sin

52:24  And they will be waited upon by [immortal] youths, [as if they were children] of their own, [as pure] as if they were pearls hidden in their shells

52:25  And they [who are thus blest] will turn to one another, asking each other [about their past lives]

52:26  They will say: “Behold, aforetime - when we were [still living] in the midst of our kith and kin - we were full of fear [at the thought of God’s displeasure]

52:27  and so God has graced us with His favour, and has warded off from us all suffering through the scorching winds [of frustration]

52:28  Verily, we did invoke Him [alone] ere this: [and now He has shown us] that He alone is truly benign, a true dispenser of grace!”

52:29  EXHORT, then, [O Prophet, all men:] for, by thy Sustainer’s grace, thou art neither a soothsayer nor a madman

52:30  Or do they say, “[He is but] a poet - let us wait what time will do unto him”

52:31  Say thou: “Wait, [then,] hopefully; behold, I, too, shall hopefully wait with you!”

52:32  Is it their minds that bid them [to take] this [attitude] - or are they [simply] people filled with overweening arrogance

52:33  Or do they say, “He himself has composed this [message]”? Nay, but they are not willing to believe

52:34  But then, [if they deem it the work of a mere mortal,] let them produce another discourse like it - if what they say be true

52:35  [Or do they deny the existence of God?] Have they themselves been created without anything [that might have caused their creation]? or were they, perchance, their own creators

52:36  [And] have they created the heavens and the earth? Nay, but they have no certainty of anything

52:37  [How could they?] Are thy Sustainer’s treasures with them? Or are they in charge [of destiny]

52:38  Or have they a ladder by which they could [ascend to ultimate truths and] listen [to what is beyond the reach of human perception]? Let, then, any of them who have listened [to it] produce a manifest proof [of his knowledge]

52:39  Or, [if you believe in God, how can you believe that] He has [chosen to have] daughters, whereas you yourselves would have [only] sons

52:40  Or is it that [they who reject thy message, O Muhammad, fear lest] thou ask of them a reward, so that they would be burdened with debt [if they should listen to thee]

52:41  Or [do they think] that the hidden reality [of all that exists] is almost within their grasp, so that [in time] they can write it down

52:42  Or do they want to entrap [thee in contradictions]? But they who are bent on denying the truth - it is they who are truly entrapped

52:43  Have they, then, any deity other than God? Utterly remote is God, in His limitless glory, from anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity

52:44  AND YET, if they [who refuse to see the truth] were to see part of the sky falling down, they would [only] say, “[It is but] a mass of clouds!”

52:45  Hence, leave them alone until they face that [Judgment] Day of theirs, when they will be stricken with terror

52:46  the Day when none of their scheming will be of the least avail to them, and they will receive no succour

52:47  But, verily, for those who are bent on doing evil, there is suffering in store [even] closer at hand than that [supreme suffering in the hereafter]: but most of them are not aware of it

52:48  And so, await in patience thy Sustainer’s judgment, for thou art well within Our sight. And extol thy Sustainer’s limitless glory and praise whenever thou risest up

52:49  and extol His glory at night, and at the time when the stars retreat