By the winds that scatter the dust,
and those that bear the burden [of the rain],
and those speeding along with ease,
and distributing the command of God at His behest!
What you are promised is certainly true:
the Judgement will surely come to pass --
by the heaven full of tracks,
surely you are deeply at variance [as to what to believe] --
he is turned away from [the truth] who is destined to be so turned away.
May the conjecturers perish,
who flounder in the depths of ignorance.
They ask, \"When will the Day of Judgement come?\"
It will be the Day when they are tormented at the Fire.
\"Taste your trial. This is what you sought to hasten.\"
Surely the God-fearing will find themselves in the midst of gardens and springs.
They shall receive what their Lord will bestow on them. They have done good works in the past,
sleeping little in the night-time,
praying at dawn for God's pardon,
and sharing their possessions with the beggars and the deprived.
On the earth, and in yourselves,
there are signs for firm believers. Do you not see then?
In heaven is your sustenance, and also that which you are promised.
By the Lord of the heaven and the earth, it is certainly the truth. It is as true as your ability to speak.
Have you heard the story of Abraham's honoured guests?
When they came to him they said, \"Peace!\" He answered, \"Peace!\" [saying to himself]. \"They are strangers.\"
Then he turned quickly to his household, and brought a fatted calf,
and placed it before them. \"Will you not eat?\" he said,
beginning to be afraid of them. But they said, \"Don't be afraid\"; and they gave him the good news of a son who would be endowed with knowledge.
Then his wife came forward, crying and beating her brow. She said, \"I am surely a barren, old woman.\"
\"Such is the will of your Lord,\" they replied. \"He is the Wise, the All Knowing.\"
Abraham asked, \"What is your errand, O messengers?\"
They replied, \"We have been sent to a sinful people,
so that we may bring down upon them a shower of stones of clay,
which are marked by your Lord for the punishment of those guilty of excesses.\"
We saved all the faithful in the town.
We found in it only one household of true believers --
and We left therein a sign for those who fear a painful punishment.
There is another sign in Moses: We sent him to Pharaoh with clear authority.
But he turned his back, he and his courtiers, and said, \"This is a sorcerer or a madman.\"
Then We seized him and his army and cast them all into the sea: he himself [Pharaoh] was to blame.
There is another sign in the [tribe of] 'Ad, when We sent against them a life-destroying wind
and it destroyed everything over which it passed and reduced it to dust.
In the Thamud [there was another sign], when they were told, \"Make the most of your lives for a while.\"
But they rebelled against the command of their Lord. So the thunderbolt overtook them while they looked on:
they could not stand up again, nor could they defend themselves.
[We destroyed] the people of Noah before them. They were certainly a sinful people.
We built the universe with Our might, giving it its vast expanse.
We have spread out the earth, how well We have spread it out,
and We created pairs of all things so that you might reflect.
Therefore hasten to God; truly, I am sent by Him to give you clear warning.
Do not set up another god, along with God. I come from Him to warn you plainly.
Likewise, there came no messenger to those before them, but they said, \"He is a sorcerer or a madman.\"
Have they handed this down to one another? They are certainly a people who exceed all bounds,
so ignore them, you are not to blame,
but keep on exhorting them, for exhortation benefits the believers.
I created the jinn and mankind only so that they might worship Me:
I seek no sustenance from them, nor do I want them to feed Me --
it is God who is the great Sustainer, the Mighty One, the Invincible.
The wrongdoers will meet the same fate as their predecessors, let them not ask Me to hasten on [the punishment],
woe, then, to those who are bent on denying the truth, when the Day arrives which they have been promised.
