سورة Al-Haaqqah ( The Inevitable )

The Inevitable Hour!

What is the Inevitable Hour?

And what will make you realize what the Inevitable Hour is?

The tribes of Thamud and 'Ad denied that disaster would strike them:

the Thamud were destroyed by a terrible storm of thunder and lightning;

and the 'Ad were destroyed by a furious wind

which God let loose against them for seven nights and eight days unremittingly, so that you could have seen its people lying prostrate as though they were the hollow trunks of palm-trees which had fallen down.

Do you see any vestige left of them now?

Pharoah and those before him and the inhabitants of the overthrown cities persistently committed grave sins.

They defied their Lord's messenger, so He seized them with an ever-tightening grip.

But We bore you away in the Ark, when the waters rose high,

so that We might make it a reminder for you and so that attentive ears might retain it.

When a single blast is blown on the trumpet,

and the earth and the mountains are lifted up and then crushed with a single blow,

on that Day the Great Event will come to pass.

And the sky will be rent asunder, for on that Day it will be so frail.

The angels will appear by its sides and, on that Day, eight [angels] will bear your Lord's throne above them.

On that Day you will be brought to judgement and none of your secrets will remain hidden.

Then he who is given his record in his right hand will exclaim, \"Here is my record, read it.

Surely, I knew that I should meet my reckoning,\"

so he will live in a state of Bliss

in a lofty garden,

with clusters of fruit within easy reach.

We shall say to him, \"Eat and drink joyfully as a reward for the good deeds you did in days gone by.\"

But he who is given his record in his left hand will say, \"If only I had never been given my Record

and knew nothing of my reckoning.

How I wish my death had ended all.

My wealth has been of no use to me.

I am bereft of power.\"

Seize him and fetter him,

and then let him enter Hell.

Then fasten him with a chain seventy cubits long:

for he did not believe in Almighty God,

nor did he feel any urge to feed the needy,

so today he has no friend here,

and the only food he has is filth

which no one will eat except the sinners.

But nay, I swear by all that you can see

as well as all that you cannot see:

most surely, this is the word brought by a noble messenger,

it is not the word of a poet -- how little you believe! --

Nor is it the word of a soothsayer -- how little you reflect!

It is a revelation sent down by the Sustainer of the Universe:

if he had invented any lies about Us,

We would indeed have seized him by his right hand

and would indeed have cut his life-vein,

and none of you could have held Us off from him.

And surely it is an admonition to the God-fearing.

We know very well that there are some among you who reject Our signs --

it will be a source of bitter regret for those who deny the truth --

it is the indubitable truth.

So glorify the name of your Lord, the Almighty.