1WHEN the day that must come shall have come suddenly.

2None shall treat that sudden coming as a lie.

3Day that shall abase! Day that shall exalt!

4When the earth shall be shaken with a shock.

5And the mountains shall be crumbled with a crumbling.

6And shall become scattered dust.

7And into three bands shall ye be divided.

8Then the people of the right hand–Oh! how happy shall be the people of the right hand!

9And the people of the left hand–Oh! how wretched shall be the people of the left hand!

10And they who were foremost on earth–the foremost still.

11These are they who shall be brought nigh to God.

12In gardens of delight.

13A crowd of the former.

14And few of the latter generations.

15On inwrought couches.

16Reclining on them face to face.

17Aye-blooming youths go round about to them.

18With goblets and ewers and a cup of flowing wine.

19Their brows ache not from it, nor fails the sense.

20And with such fruits as shall please them best.

21And with flesh of such birds, as they shall long for.

22And theirs shall be the Houris, with large dark eyes, like pearls hidden in their shells.

24In recompense of their labours past.

25No vain discourse shall they hear therein, nor charge of sin.

26But only the cry, "Peace! Peace!"

27And the people of the right hand–oh! how happy shall be the people of the right hand!

28Amid thornless sidrahs.

29And talh trees clad with fruit.

30And in extended shade.

31And by flowing waters.

32And with abundant fruits.

33Unfailing, unforbidden.

34And on lofty couches.

35Of a rare creation have we created the Houris.

36And we have made them ever virgins.

37Dear to their spouses, of equal age with them.

38For the people of the right hand.

39A crowd of the former.

40And a crowd of the latter generations.

41But the people of the left hand–oh! how wretched shall be the people of the left hand!

42Amid pestilential winds and in scalding water.

43And in the shadow of a black smoke.

44Not cool, and horrid to behold.

45For they truly, ere this, were blessed with worldly goods.

46But persisted in heinous sin.

47And were wont to say.

47"What! after we have died, and become dust and bones, shall we be raised?

48And our fathers, the men of yore?"

49SAY: Aye, the former and the latter.

50Gathered shall they all be for the time of a known day.

51Then ye, O ye the erring, the gainsaying.

52Shall surely eat of the tree Ez-zakkoum.

53And fill your bellies with it.

54And thereupon shall ye drink boiling water.

55And ye shall drink as the thirsty camel drinketh.

56This shall be their repast in the day of reckoning!

57We created you, will ye not credit us?

58What think ye? The germs of life–

59Is it ye who create them? or are we their creator?

60It is we who have decreed that death should be among you.

61Yet are we not thereby hindered from replacing you with others, your likes.

61or from producing you again in a form which ye know not!

62Ye have known the first creation: will ye not then reflect?

63What think ye? That which ye sow–

64Is it ye who cause its upgrowth, or do we cause it to spring forth?

65If we pleased we could so make your harvest dry and brittle that ye would ever marvel and say.

66"Truly we have been at cost, yet are we forbidden harvest."

68What think ye of the water ye drink?

69Is it ye who send it down from the clouds, or send we it down?

70Brackish could we make it, if we pleased: will ye not then be thankful?

71What think ye? The fire which ye obtain by friction–

72Is it ye who rear its tree, or do we rear it?

73It is we who have made it for a memorial and a benefit to the wayfarers of the desert.

74Praise therefore the name of thy Lord, the Great.

75It needs not that I swear by the setting of the stars.

76And it is a great oath, if ye knew it.

77That this is the honourable Koran.

78Written in the preserved Book.

79Let none touch it but the purified.

80It is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds.

81Such tidings as these will ye disdain?

82Will ye make it your daily bread to gainsay them?

83Why, at the moment when the soul of a dying man shall come up into his throat.

84And when ye are gazing at him.

85Though we are nearer to him than ye, although ye see us not:–

86Why do ye not, if ye are to escape the judgment.

87Cause that soul to return? Tell me, if ye speak the truth.

88But as to him who shall enjoy near access to God.

89His shall be repose, and pleasure, and a garden of delights.

90Yea, for him who shall be of the people of the right hand.

91Shall be the greeting from the people of the right hand–"Peace be to thee."

92But for him who shall be of those who treat the prophets as deceivers.

92And of the erring.

93His entertainment shall be of scalding water.

94And the broiling of hell-fire.

95Verily this is a certain truth.

96Praise therefore the name of thy Lord, the Great.