Al-Haqqah

The Inevitable Hour

What is the Inevitable Hour

What will explain to you what the Inevitable Hour is

The people of Thamud and 'Ad denied that the crashing blowwould come

Thamud was destroyed by a deafening blast

Ad was destroyed by a furious wind

that God let loose against them for seven consecutive nights, eight consecutive days, so that you could have seen its people lying dead like hollow palm-trunks

Can you see any trace of them now

Pharaoh, too, and those before him, and the ruined cities: these people committed grave sins

and disobeyed the messenger of their Lord, so He seized them with an ever-tightening grip

But when the Flood rose high, We saved you in the floating ship

making that event a reminder for you: attentive ears may take heed

When the Trumpet is sounded a single time

when the earth and its mountains are raised high and then crushed with a single blow

on that Day the Great Event will come to pass

The sky will be torn apart on that Day, it will be so frail

The angels will be on all sides of it and, on that Day, eight of them will bear the throne of your Lord above them

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

Anyone who is given his Record in his right hand will say, ‘Here is my Record, read it

I knew I would meet my Reckoning,’

and so he will have a pleasant life

in a lofty Garden

with clustered fruit within his reach

It will be said, ‘Eat and drink to your heart’s content as a reward for what you have done in days gone by.’

But anyone who is given his Record in his left hand will say, ‘If only I had never been given any Record

and knew nothing of my Reckoning

How I wish death had been the end of me

My wealth has been no use to me

and my power has vanished.’

‘Take him, put a collar on him

lead him to burn in the blazing Fire

and [bind him] in a chain seventy metres long

he would not believe in Almighty God

he never encouraged feeding the hungry

so today he has no real friend here

and the only food he has is the filth

that only sinners eat.’

So I swear by what you can see

and by what you cannot see

this [Quran] is the speech of an honoured messenger

not the words of a poet- how little you believe

nor the words of a soothsayer- how little you reflect

This [Quran] is a message sent down from the Lord of the Worlds

if [the Prophet] had attributed some fabrication to Us

We would certainly have seized his right hand

and cut off his lifeblood

and none of you could have defended him

This [Quran] is a reminder for those who are aware of God

We know that some of you consider it to be lies

this will be a source of bitter regret for the disbelievers

but it is in fact the certain Truth

So [Prophet] glorify the name of your Lord, the Almighty