سورة An-Nazi'at ( Those who Pull Out )

By those [angels] who wrest [the soul] violently,

by those who draw [it] out gently,

by those who swim smoothly,

by those who, racing, take the lead,

by those who direct the affairs [of creatures]:

the day when the Quaker quakes

and is followed by the Successor,

hearts will be trembling on that day,

bearing a humbled look.

They will say, ‘Are we being returned to our earlier state?

What, even after we have been decayed bones?!’

They will say, ‘This is, then, a ruinous return!’

Yet it will be only a single shout,

and behold, they will be awake.

Did you receive the story of Moses,

when his Lord called out to him in the holy valley of Tuwa?

[And said,] ‘Go to Pharaoh, for indeed he has rebelled,

and say, ‘‘Would you purify yourself?

I will guide you to your Lord, that you may fear [Him]?’’ ’

Then he showed him the greatest sign.

But he denied, and disobeyed.

Then he turned back, walking swiftly,

and gathered [the people] and proclaimed,

saying, ‘I am your exalted lord!’

So Allah seized him with the punishment of this life and the Hereafter.

There is indeed a moral in that for someone who fears!

Is your creation more prodigious or that of the heaven He has built?

He raised its vault and fashioned it,

and darkened its night, and brought forth its forenoon.

Thereafter He spread out the earth,

brought forth from it its water and pastures,

setting firm the mountains,

as a [place of] sustenance for you and your livestock.

When the Greatest Catastrophe befalls

—the day when man will remember his endeavours

and hell is brought into view for those who can see—

as for him who has been rebellious

and preferred the life of this world,

his refuge will indeed be hell.

But as for him who is awed to stand before his Lord and restrains his soul from [following] desires,

his refuge will indeed be paradise.

They ask you concerning the Hour, “When will it set in,

considering your frequent mention of it?”

Its outcome is with your Lord.

You are only a warner for those who are afraid it.

The day they see it, it shall be as if they had not stayed [in the world] except for an evening or forenoon.