The Winnowing Winds -
By the swift scatterers
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and the burden-bearers
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and the smooth runners
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and the partitioners,
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surely that you are promised is true,
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and surely the Doom is about to fall!
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By heaven with all its tracks
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surely you speak at variance,
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and perverted therefrom are some.
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Perish the conjecturers
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who are dazed in perplexity
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asking, 'When shall be the Day of Doom?'
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Upon the day when they shall be tried at the Fire:
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'Taste your trial! This is that you were seeking to hasten.'
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Surely the godfearing shall be among gardens and fountains
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taking whatsoever their Lord has given them; they were good-doers before that.
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Little of the night would they slumber,
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and in the mornings they would ask for forgiveness;
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and the beggar and the outcast had a share in their wealth.
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In the earth are signs for those having sure faith;
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and in your selves; what, do you not see?
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And in heaven is your provision, and that you are promised.
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So by the Lord of heaven and earth, it is as surely true as that you have speech.
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Hast thou received the story of the honoured guests of Abraham?
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When they entered unto him, saying 'Peace!' he said 'Peace! You are a people unknown to me.'
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Then he turned to his household and brought a fattened calf,
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and he laid it before them saying, 'Will you not eat?'
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Then he conceived a fear of them. They said, 'Be not afraid!' And they gave him good tidings of a cunning boy.
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Then came forward his wife, clamouring, and she smote her face, and said, 'An old woman, barren!'
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They said, 'So says thy Lord; He is the All-wise, the All-knowing.'
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Said he, 'And what is your business, envoys?'
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They said, 'We have been sent to a people of sinners,
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to loose upon them stones of clay
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marked with thy Lord for the prodigal.
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So We brought forth such believers as were in it,
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but We found not therein except one house of those that have surrendered themselves.
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And therein We left a sign to those who fear the painful chastisement.
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And also in Moses, when We sent him unto Pharaoh, with a clear authority,
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but he turned his back, with his court, saying, 'A sorcerer, or a man possessed!'
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So We seized him and his hosts, and We cast them into the sea, and he blameworthy.
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And also in Ad, when We loosed against them the withering wind
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that left nothing it came upon, but made it as stuff decayed.
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And also in Thamood, when it was said to them, 'Take your enjoyment for a while!'
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Then they turned in disdain from the commandment of their Lord, and the thunderbolt took them and they themselves beholding
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and they were not able to stand upright, and were not helped.
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And the people of Noah before; surely they were an ungodly people.
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And heaven -- We built it with might, and We extend it wide.
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And the earth -- We spread it forth; O excellent Smoothers!
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And of everything created We two kinds; haply you will remember.
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Therefore flee unto God! I am a clear warner from Him to you.
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And set not up with God another god; I am a clear warner from Him to you.
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Even so not a Messenger came to those before them but they said, 'A sorcerer, or a man possessed!'
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What, have they bequeathed it one to another? Nay, but they are an insolent people.
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So turn thou from them; thou wilt not be reproached.
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And remind; the Reminder profits the believers.
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I have not created jinn and mankind except to serve Me.
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I desire of them no provision, neither do I desire that they should feed Me.
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Surely God is the All-provider, the Possessor of Strength, the Ever-Sure.
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The evildoers shall have their portion, like the portion of their fellows; so let them not hasten Me!
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So woe to the unbelievers, for that day of theirs that they are promised.