LXXXIX. The Chapter of the Dawn

The Qur'ân, part II (Sacred Books of the East volume 9), Palmer edition [1880]; at sacred-texts.com

THE CHAPTER OF THE DAWN.

(LXXXIX. Mecca.)

IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.

By the dawn and ten nights ²!

And the single and the double!

And the night when it travels on!

Is there in that an oath for a man of sense?

[5] Hast thou not seen how thy Lord did with ‘Âd?--with Iram of the columns ³? the like of which has not been created in the land?

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And Thamûd when they hewed the stones in the valley?

And Pharaoh of the stakes ¹?

[10] Who were outrageous in the land, and did multiply wickedness therein, and thy Lord poured out upon them the scourge of torment.

Verily, thy Lord is on a watch tower! and as for man, whenever his Lord tries him and honours him and grants him favour, then [15] he says, 'My Lord has honoured me;' but whenever he tries him and doles out to him his subsistence, then he says, 'My Lord despises me!'

Nay, but ye do not honour the orphan, nor do ye urge each other to feed the poor, [20] and ye devour the inheritance (of the weak) with a general devouring ², and ye love wealth with a complete love!

Nay, when the earth is crushed to pieces, and thy Lord comes with the angels, rank on rank, and hell is brought on that day,--on that day shall man be reminded! but how shall he have a reminder?

[25] He will say, 'Would that I had sent something forward for my life!'

But on that day no one shall be tormented with a torment like his, and none shall be bound with bonds like his!

O thou comforted soul! return unto thy Lord, well pleased and well pleased with!

And enter amongst my servants, [30] and enter my Paradise!

Footnotes

330:2 The first ten nights of the sacred months of DHu ’l Heggeh.

330:3 Sheddâd, the son of ‘Âd, is related to have ordered the construction of a terrestrial paradise in the desert of Aden, ostensibly in rivalry of the celestial one, and to have called it Irem, after the name of his great-grandfather Irem (Aram). On going to take possession of it, he and all his people were struck dead by a noise from heaven, and the paradise disappeared. Certain Arab travellers are declared to have come across this mysterious garden.

331:1 Cf. p. 176, note 1.

331:2 Cf. Part I, p. 72, note 1.