52 - The Mount
The Mount
  1. By the Mount
  2. and a Book inscribed
  3. in a parchment unrolled,
  4. by the House inhabited
  5. and the roof uplifted
  6. and the sea swarming,
  7. surely thy Lord's chastisement is about to fall;
  8. there is none to avert it.
  9. Upon the day when heaven spins dizzily
  10. and the mountains are in motion,
  11. woe that day unto those that cry lies,
  12. such as play at plunging,
  13. the day when they shall be pitched into the fire of Gehenna:
  14. 'This is the fire that you cried lies to!
  15. What, is this magic, or is it you that do not see?
  16. Roast in it! And bear you patiently, or bear not patiently, equal it is to you; you are only being recompensed for that you were working.'
  17. Surely the godfearing shall be in gardens and bliss,
  18. rejoicing in that their Lord has given them; and their Lord shall guard them against the chastisement of Hell.
  19. 'Eat and drink, with wholesome appetite, for that you were working.
  20. Reclining upon couches ranged in rows; and We shall espouse them to wide-eyed houris.
  21. And those who believed, and their seed followed them in belief, We shall join their seed with them, and We shall not defraud them of aught of their work; every man shall be pledged for what he earned.
  22. And We shall succour them with fruits and flesh such as they desire
  23. while they pass therein a cup one to another wherein is no idle talk, no cause of sin,
  24. and there go round them youths, their own, as if they were hidden pearls.
  25. They advance one upon another, asking each other questions.
  26. They say, 'We were before among our people, ever going in fear,
  27. and God was gracious to us, and guarded us against the chastisement of the burning wind;
  28. we were before ever calling upon Him; surely He is the All-benign, the All-compassionate.'
  29. Therefore remind! by thy Lord's blessing thou art not a soothsayer neither possessed.
  30. Or do they say, 'He is a poet for whom we await Fate's uncertainty'?
  31. Say: 'Await! I shall be awaiting with you.'
  32. Or do their intellects bid them do this? Or are they an insolent people?
  33. Or do they say, 'He has invented it?' Nay, but they do not believe.
  34. Then let them bring a discourse like it, if they speak truly.
  35. Or were they created out of nothing? Or are they the creators?
  36. Or did they create the heavens and earth? Nay, but they have not sure faith.
  37. Or are thy Lord's treasuries in their keeping? Or are they the registrars?
  38. Or have they a ladder whereon they listen? Then let any of them that has listened bring a clear authority.
  39. Or has He daughters, and they sons?
  40. Or askest thou them for a wage, and so they are weighed down with debt?
  41. Or is the Unseen in their keeping, and so they are writing it down?
  42. Or desire they to outwit? The unbelievers, they are the outwitted.
  43. Or have they a god, other than God? Glory be to God, above that which they associate!
  44. Even if they saw lumps falling from heaven, they would say, 'A massed cloud!'
  45. Then leave them, till they encounter their day wherein they shall be thunderstruck,
  46. the day when their guile shall avail them naught, and they shall not be helped.
  47. And there surely awaits the evildoers a chastisement beyond even that, but most of them know it not.
  48. And be thou patient under the judgment of thy Lord; surely thou art before Our eyes. And proclaim the praise of thy Lord when thou arisest,
  49. and proclaim the praise of thy Lord in the night, and at the declining of the stars.