69. Surah Al-Haqqah, English Translation

What is the Inevitable Hour?

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

˹Both˺ Thamûd and ’Ȃd denied the Striking Disaster.¹

As for Thamûd, they were destroyed by an overwhelming blast.

And as for ’Ȃd, they were destroyed by a furious, bitter wind

which Allah unleashed on them non-stop for seven nights and eight days, so that you would have seen its people lying dead like trunks of uprooted palm trees.

Do you see any of them left alive?

Also, Pharaoh and those before him, and ˹the people of˺ the overturned cities ˹of Lot˺ indulged in sin,

each disobeying their Lord’s messenger, so He seized them with a crushing grip.

Indeed, when the floodwater had overflowed, We carried you¹ in the floating Ark ˹with Noah˺,

so that We may make this a reminder to you, and that attentive ears may grasp it.

At last, when the Trumpet will be blown with one blast,

and the earth and mountains will be lifted up and crushed with one blow,

on that Day the Inevitable Event will have come to pass.

The sky will then be so torn that it will be frail,

with the angels on its sides. On that Day eight ˹mighty angels˺ will bear the Throne of your Lord above them.

You will then be presented ˹before Him for judgment˺, and none of your secrets will stay hidden.

As for those given their records in their right hand, they will cry ˹happily˺, “Here ˹everyone˺! Read my record!

I surely knew I would face my reckoning.”

They will be in a life of bliss,

in an elevated Garden,

whose fruit will hang within reach.

˹They will be told,˺ “Eat and drink joyfully for what you did in the days gone by.”

And as for those given their record in their left hand, they will cry ˹bitterly˺, “I wish I had not been given my record,

nor known anything of my reckoning!

I wish death was the end!

My wealth has not benefited me!

My authority has been stripped from me.”

˹It will be said,˺ “Seize and shackle them,

then burn them in Hell,

then tie them up with chains seventy arms long.

For they never had faith in Allah, the Greatest,

nor encouraged the feeding of the poor.

So this Day they will have no close friend here,

nor any food except ˹oozing˺ pus,

which none will eat except the evildoers.”

Now, I do swear by whatever you see,

and whatever you cannot see!

Indeed, this ˹Quran˺ is the recitation of a noble Messenger.

It is not the prose of a poet ˹as you claim˺, ˹yet˺ you hardly have any faith.

Nor is it the mumbling of a fortune-teller, ˹yet˺ you are hardly mindful.

˹It is˺ a revelation from the Lord of all worlds.

Had the Messenger made up something in Our Name,

We would have certainly seized him by his right hand,

then severed his aorta,

and none of you could have shielded him ˹from Us˺!

Indeed, this ˹Quran˺ is a reminder to those mindful ˹of Allah˺.

And We certainly know that some of you will persist in denial,

and it will surely be a source of regret for the disbelievers.

And indeed, this ˹Quran˺ is the absolute truth.

So glorify the Name of your Lord, the Greatest.