AL NAZI’AT (Those Who Tear Out)
In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful
1 By those who tear out with violence;
2 By those who gently draw out;
3 And by those who glide along,
4 Then press forward as in a race,
5 Then arrange to fulfil a command,
6 One day everything that can be in commotion will be in violent commotion,
7 Followed by repeated blows.
8 Hearts that day will be in agitation;
9 Their eyes will be cast down.
10 They say: What! Shall we indeed be returned to our former state?
11 What! When we shall have become rotten bones?
12 They say: It would, in that case, be a return with loss!
13 But truly, it will be but a single cry,
14 When, behold, they will be in the awakening.
15 Has the story of Musa[1] reached you?
16 Behold, your Lord called to him in the sacred valley of Tuwa:
17 Go to Firaun, for he has indeed transgressed all bounds;
18 And say to him, Do you want to be purified?
19 And that I guide you to your Lord, so you should fear him?
20 Then Musa showed him the great sign.
21 But Firaun rejected it and disobeyed;
22 Further, he turned his back, striving hard.
23 Then he gathered his people and made a proclamation,
24 Saying, I am your Lord, most high.
25 But Allah punished him, and made an example of him, in the hereafter, as in this life.
26 Truly in this is an instructive warning for whoever fears.
27 What! Are you the more difficult to create or the sky? He has constructed it:
28 On high has he raised its canopy, and he has given it order and perfection.
29 Its night does he endow with darkness, and its splendour he brings out.
30 And the earth, moreover, has he extended;
31 He draws out its moisture and its pasture;
32 And the mountains has he firmly fixed;
33 For use and convenience to you and your cattle.
34 Therefore, when there comes the great cry,
35 The day when man shall remember what he strove for,
36 And hell fire shall be placed in full view for all to see,
37 Then, for such as had transgressed all bounds,
38 And had preferred the life of this world,
39 The abode will be hell fire;
40 And for such as had entertained the fear of standing before their Lord and restrained their soul from lower desires,
41 Their abode will be the garden.
42 They ask you about the Hour: When will be its appointed time?
43 What do you think you know about it?
44 With your Lord its time is decided.
45 You are but a warner for such as fear it.
46 The day they see it, it will be as if they had waited but a single evening, or until the following morning!
[1] See Taurat, Exodus chapter 3 and following, for more of the story of Prophet Musa (pbuh) and Firaun.