081 - Sūrat at-Takvīr

In the name of Allah (who is) Rahmān (and) Rahīm.

[For explanation, see Sūrat al-Fātiha: 1]

1

When the sun is folded away, enfolded and stripped of its light,

2

And when the stars scatter, [when] they are extinguished and hurtle down towards the earth,

3

And when the mountains are set in motion, [when] they are blown away from the face of the earth, becoming as scattered dust,

4

And when the pregnant camels are neglected, abandoned without a herdsman or anyone to milk them, on account of the matter that has come over them - even though [previously] no wealth was dearer to them than these [pregnant camels];

5

And when the wild beasts are mustered, [when they are] brought together after being resurrected so that each of them may retaliate against the other, before becoming dust;

6

And when the seas are set afire (read sujirat or sujjirat), [when] they are set alight and become [a mass of] fire;

7

And when the souls are coupled, [when they are] paired up with their bodies;

8

And when the girl buried-alive, the young girl buried alive for fear of shame and impoverishment, asks - in rebuke of its slayer -

9

For what sin she was slain (sa'alat, 'asks': a variant reading has su'ilat, '[she] is asked', narrating the address directed to her, to which she then responds by saying, 'I was slain without [having committed] any sin');

10

And when the scrolls, the scrolls containing the deeds, are unrolled (read nushirat or nushshirat), [when they are] unfolded and spread out;

11

And when the heaven is stripped off, torn away from its place, just as the skin of a sheep is stripped off;

12

And when the Hell-fire is set ablaze (read su'irat or su''irat), [when it is] set alight;

13

And when Paradise is brought near, [when it is] brought close to those who have merited it, that they may enter it (the response to idhā, 'when', at the beginning of the sūra and all that has been supplemented thereto is [the following]):

14

[Then] a soul, every soul, at the time of the [occurrence of the] things mentioned, which is the Day of Resurrection, will know what it has presented, of good or evil.

15

So I swear (fa-lā: lā is extra) by the receding [planets],

16

The movers, the setters, that is, the five planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury (takhnusu means 'they sink away' during their orbit, whereas we see stars at the end of their zodiacal course return to the start; taknisu means that they enter their kinās, 'hideaway', in other words, they retreat into their setting-places);

17

And [by] the night as it approaches, as it falls with its darkness, or [it means] as it recedes;

18

And [by] the dawn as it breathes, [as] it extends until it becomes broad daylight,

19

Truly this, Qur'ān, is the word of a Messenger (rasūl) [who is] noble, in the sight of Allahu ta’ālā, exalted be He - this being [the Messenger (rasūl)] Gabriel (it [qawl, 'word'] has been annexed to him, because he descends with it),

20

Powerful, one of mighty powers, eminent, one of eminent status (makīnin is semantically connected 'inda, 'in the presence of') in the presence of the Rabb of al-Arshi (the Throne), that is, Allahu ta’ālā, exalted be He;

21

Obeyed there, the angels obey him in the heavens, trustworthy, with the Revelation.

22

And your companion, Muhammad "sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam" (wa-mā sāhibukum: a supplement to [the clause from] innahu, 'truly this is', up to the last of the oath clauses) is not a madman, as you claim.

23

For verily he, Muhammad "sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam", saw him, Cibrīl (Gabriel), in the form in which he was created, on the clear horizon, the highest one, towards the east;

24

And he, Muhammad "sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam", is not to be accused of [knowing] al-gaybe (the Unseen), what is hidden of the revelation and the tidings of the heaven (a variant reading [for bi-zanīnin] has bi-danīnin, meaning that he is not 'niggardly' [with the Unseen] so as to reduce something of it [and not disclose it]).

25

And it, that is, the Qur'ān, is not the word of an accursed Satan, eavesdropping stealthily.

26

So where are you going? So what path are you going to follow in repudiating the Qur'ān and turning away from it?

27

It is only a reminder, an admonition, for all worlds, [those of] mankind and jinn,

28

For those of you who (li-man shā'a minkum is a substitution for li'l-'ālamīna, 'for all worlds', using the same preposition) wish to go straight, by following the truth;

29

But you will not [wish], to go straight along the [path of] truth, unless Allahu ta’ālā, the Rabb of the Worlds, [of all] creatures, wills, that you should go straight along it.