AL TUR (The Mount)
In the Name of God,1 the Gracious, the Merciful 2
1 By the Mount.
2 By a decree inscribed,
3 In a scroll unfolded;
4 By the much-frequented shrine;
5 By the canopy raised high;
6 And by the ocean waves;
7 Truly, the doom of your Lord will indeed come to pass;
8 There is none can avert it;
9 On the day when the firmament will be in dreadful commotion.
10 And the mountains will fly here and there.
11 Then woe that day to those that treat truth as falsehood;
12 That play in shallow trifles.
13 That day shall they be thrust down to the fire of hell, irresistibly.
14 It will be said, This is the fire, which you used to deny!
15 Is this then a fake, or is it you that do not see?
16 Burn in it. It is the same to you whether you bear it with patience, or not; you but receive the reward of your deeds.
17 As to the righteous, they will be in gardens, and in happiness,
18 Enjoying that which their Lord has bestowed on them, and their Lord shall deliver them from the penalty of the fire.
19 Eat and drink with profit and health, because of your deeds.
20 They will recline on thrones arranged in ranks; and we shall join them to companions, with beautiful big and lustrous eyes.
21 And those who believe and whose families follow them in faith, to them shall we join their families: nor shall we deprive them of any of their works: each individual is in pledge for his deeds.
22 And we shall bestow on them, of fruit and meat, anything they shall desire.
23 They shall there exchange, one with another, a cup free of frivolity, free of all taint of ill.
24 Youths will serve them, like pearls well guarded.
25 They will advance to each other, engaging in mutual enquiry.
26 They will say: Aforetime, we were not without fear for the sake of our people.
27 But God has been good to us, and has delivered us from the penalty of the scorching wind.
28 Truly, we did call to him from of old: truly it is he, the beneficent, the merciful!
29 Therefore proclaim praises: for by the grace of your Lord, you are no soothsayer, nor are you one possessed.
30 Or do they say: A poet! We await for him some calamity in time!
31 Say: Go ahead and wait! I too will wait along with you!
32 Is it that their faculties of understanding urge them to this, or are they but a people transgressing beyond bounds?
33 Or do they say he fabricated it? No, they have no faith!
34 Let them then produce a recital like it, if they speak the truth!
35 Were they created of nothing, or were they themselves the creators?
36 Or did they create the heavens and the earth? No, they have no firm belief.
37 Or are the treasures of your Lord with them, or are they the managers?
38 Or have they a ladder, by which they can listen? Then let a listener of theirs produce a clear proof.
39 Or has he only daughters and you have sons?
40 Or is it that you ask for a reward, so that they are burdened with a load of debt?
41 Or that the unseen is in their hands, and they write it down?
42 Or do they intend a plot? But those who defy God are themselves involved in a plot!
43 Or have they a god other than God? Exalted is God far above the things they associate with him!
44 Were they to see a piece of the sky falling, they would say: Clouds gathered in heaps!
45 So leave them alone until they encounter that day of theirs, wherein they shall swoon,
46 The day when their plotting will avail them nothing and no help shall be given them.
47 And truly, for those who do wrong, there is another punishment besides this: but most of them understand not.
48 Now await in patience the command of your Lord: for truly you are in our eyes: and celebrate the praises of your Lord the while you stand forth,
49 And for part of the night also praise him, and at the retreat of the stars!
- God, in Arabic allah, referring to the one true God, as opposed to an idol or “god.” It is the Arabic equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew), alaha (Syriac), and theos (Greek), all of which accurately translate into English as “God.” This translation choice is consistent with respected English Quran translations including those of A. Yusuf Ali (original edition), S.H. Nasr (Study Quran), T.B. Irving, and T. Itani (Clear Quran). ↩︎
- the Gracious, the Merciful, the highlighting of God’s grace and mercy predates the Quran, coming down from the many hundreds of references in the Taurat, Zabur, and Injil. A few samples follow:
Taurat, Exodus 34:6 — …YAHWEH, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
Zabur 145:8 — YAHWEH is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
Taurat, Joel 2:13 — Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to YAHWEH your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
Taurat, Yunus 4:2 — …I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.”
Injil, 1 Timothy 1:2 — …Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and AL-MASIH ‘ISA our Lord.
Injil, Hebrews 4:16 — Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need. ↩︎