73:1  O you enwrapped one

73:2  Rise to keep vigil at night, except a little

73:3  Half of it, or lessen it a little

73:4  Or add to it (a little); and pray and recite the Qur’an calmly and distinctly (with your mind and heart concentrated on it)

73:5  We will surely charge you with a weighty Word (and with applying it in your daily life and conveying it to others)

73:6  Rising and praying at night impresses (mind and heart) most strongly and (makes) recitation more certain and upright

73:7  For by day you have extended preoccupations

73:8  And keep in remembrance the Name of your Lord (and mention It in your Prayer), and devote yourself to Him whole-heartedly

73:9  The Lord of the east and the Lord of the west; there is no deity but He, so take Him alone for one to rely on and to entrust your affairs to

73:10  And endure patiently all that they say (against you), and stay aloof from their way (and part from them) in a becoming manner (not as they treat you; rather with forbearance and good advice)

73:11  And leave Me alone to deal with those who enjoy God’s worldly blessings and yet obstinately persist in denying (Our Revelations), and grant them respite for a little while

73:12  We have (in store for the likes of them) heavy fetters and a Blazing Flame

73:13  And food that chokes, and a painful punishment

73:14  On that Day the earth and the mountains will be violently shaken, and the mountains will be as a heap of slipping sand

73:15  Surely We have sent to you (O people) a Messenger, a witness against you (one who will testify in the Hereafter as to your deeds in response to God’s Message), just as We sent a Messenger to the Pharaoh

73:16  But the Pharaoh rebelled against the Messenger, and so We seized him with a calamitous grasp

73:17  Then how will you, if you persist in unbelief, guard yourselves against a Day which will turn the children gray-headed

73:18  The sky will cleft open thereby. His promise (of Resurrection and Judgment) is certainly to be fulfilled

73:19  This is a reminder and admonition, and so let him, who wills, take a path to his Lord

73:20  Surely your Lord knows that you (O Messenger) rise and keep vigil sometimes nearly two-thirds of the night or (other times) a half of it or a third of it, and so do some of those who are in your company as believers. God determines the measure of the night and day (which He has created). He knows that you (O believers) are unable to sustain (such long vigils every night) and He has turned to you in mercy: so recite (when you do the Prayer) from the Qur’an what is easy for you (to sustain as regular practice). He knows that there will be among you who are sick, and others going about the land seeking of God’s bounty, and still others fighting in God’s cause. Recite from it, then, as much as is easy (for you). But establish the Prayer in conformity with its conditions as prescribed, pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms (the Zakah), and lend God a good loan (by spending in His cause and for the needy). Whatever of good you forward (to your future, eternal life) for your own selves, you will find it with God, better and greater in reward (than all that you have left behind in the world and much increased in value). And seek God’s forgiveness (in all circumstances and eventualities). God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate (especially toward His believing, penitent servants)