بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
1CONSIDER these [messages] ranged in serried ranks,
2and restraining [from evil] by a call to restraint,
3and conveying [to all the world] a reminder:
4Verily, most surely, your God is One –
5the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and of all that is between them, and the Sustainer of all the points of sunrise!
6Behold, We have adorned the skies nearest to the earth with the beauty of stars,
7and have made them secure against every rebellious, satanic force,
8[so that] they [who seek to learn the unknowable] should not be able to overhear the host on high, but shall be repelled from all sides,
9cast out [from all grace], with lasting suffering in store for them [in the life to come];
10but if anyone does succeed in snatching a glimpse [of such knowledge], he is [henceforth] pursued by a piercing flame.
11AND NOW ask those [who deny the truth] to enlighten thee: Were they more difficult to create than all those [untold marvels] that We have created? - for, behold, them have We created out of [mere] clay commingled with water!
12Nay, but whereas thou dost marvel, they [only] scoff;
13and when they are reminded [of the truth], they refuse to take it to heart;
14and when they become aware of a [divine] message, they turn it to ridicule
15and say: “This is clearly nothing but [a mortal’s] spellbinding eloquence!
16Why - after we have died and become mere dust and bones, shall we, forsooth, be raised from the dead? –
17and perhaps also our forebears of old?”
18Say: “Yea, indeed - and most abject will you then be!” –
19for that [resurrection which they deride] will be [upon them of a sudden, as if it were] but a single accusing cry - and then, lo! they will begin to see [the truth]
20and will say: “Oh, woe unto us! This is the Day of Judgment!”
21[And they will be told:] “This is the Day of Distinction [between the true and the false - the Day] which you were wont to call a lie!”
22[And God will thus command:] “Assemble all those who were bent on evildoing, together with others of their ilk and [with] all that they were wont to worship
23instead of God, and lead them all onto the way to the blazing fire,
24and halt them [there]!” [And then,] behold, they shall be asked,