By the one who is denoted by the name Allah (who created my being with His Names in accord with the meaning of the letter ‘B’), the Rahman, the Rahim.

 

1. By the intensely powerful (force; Mars),

2. And the (force) that takes with ease (Sun),

3. And the (forces) that swim (in their orbits; Saturn – Jupiter),

4. And the (forces) that race ahead (Mercury – Venus),

5. And the administrators of the command (the forces that reveal; the Moon). (That these verses denote the planets is the construal of Hasan al-Basri and Imam Razi, a perspective I also share.)

6. At that time the convulsion (of death; earthquake) will convulse.

7. Followed by a subsequent one (resurrection; commencement of a new life with the new spirit-body).

8. The minds (of some) will be shocked at that time!

9. Their vision will be confounded and crushed!

10. Yet still they say, “Will we really be returned to our former state (back to life, after having become dust); is resurrection really true?”

11. “Even after we have become decayed and scattered bones?”

12. “That, then, (the continuation of life in this state) will be a return in loss.”

13. Whereas, it is but one command!

14. And behold they will instantly find themselves on an open expanse!

15. Did the news of Moses reach you?

16. How his Rabb called out to him in the sacred valley of Tuwa:

17. “Go to Pharaoh! Indeed, he has transgressed!”

18. “And say, ‘How about becoming cleansed and purified?’”

19. “How about I guide you to your Rabb? You will be in awe (of His might)!”

20. Then he showed him the great miracle!

21. But (Pharaoh) denied and rebelled.

22. Then turned his back and ran.

23. Then he gathered (his people) and called out:

24. “I am your Rabb, the most supreme!” (Pharaoh, who had attained the ancient knowledge of the reality, chose to use this in favor of his bodily existence and bodily pursuits rather than using it to observe the comprehensiveness of consciousness upon existence, and thus fell to the state of the inciting self. This is why, rather than conveying the knowledge of the reality to him and calling him to believe in Allah, Moses warns him by calling him to believe in the ‘Rabb of the worlds.’ In other words, he invites him to believe in the Names, which are manifest throughout, and administer the entire existence, rather than experiencing his understanding of this unity through his corporeality.)

25. So Allah seized him with an exemplary suffering of the eternal life to come and what is before it (the world).

26. Indeed, there is a lesson in this for those who are in awe!

27. Is your creation harder or the creation of the heaven? (Which Allah also) constructed!

28. He raised its ceiling and proportioned it (formed it with the qualities to fulfill its function).

29. He darkened its night and brightened its day.

30. Then He spread the earth and furnished it.

31. Then extracted its water and its pasture.

32. And the mountains, He set them firmly as if anchored.

33. So that you and your cattle (animals) may benefit from it.

34. But when the overwhelming calamity (the experience of death) begins,

35. Man will remember at that time the results of his deeds!

36. And Hell will be (openly) exposed to those who see (without the limitation of the eye)!

37. For he who transgressed without bounds,

38. And chose to live in pursuit of worldly pleasures;

39. Indeed, the place (state) of burning will be his abode!

40. But as for he who feared the position of his Rabb and protected himself from things whose results will be useless in the eternal life,

41. Indeed, Paradise will be his very abode.

42. They ask you about that Hour: when is its arrival?

43. But who are you to have this knowledge?

44. To your Rabb is its finality.

45. You are only a warner to those who are in awe of it!

46. The day they see it, it will be as though they had not remained (in the world), except for a time of sunset or twilight.