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. I swear by the dawn,

2. And by ten nights,

3. By the even and the odd,

4. And by the night when it passes...

5. Is there not in this a (sufficient) oath for a man of reason?

6. Did you not see how your Rabb dealt with Aad (the people of Hud),

7. And Iram, the (city) with lofty pillars?

8. The like of which has never been created in the land!

9. (What did your Rabb do) to Thamud (the people of Salih), who carved out the rocks in the valley?

10. And Pharaoh, the owner of the tall stakes (the pyramids).

11. They are those who lived egocentrically in the land and transgressed,

12. And increased corruption therein!

13. So your Rabb struck them the whip of suffering.

14. Indeed, your Rabb is in complete observation.

15. But as for man, when his Rabb tries him and is generous to him and bestows His bounties upon him, he says, “My Rabb has honored me, and preferred me (and becomes spoilt).”

16. But when He tries him with an affliction and restricts his provision, he (impatiently) says, “My Rabb has debased and humiliated me.”

17. No! No, you do not honor the orphan!

18. And you do not encourage each other to feed the needy.

19. And you consume inheritance, devouring it all at once!

20. And you love wealth and you collect and hoard.

21. No (do not do this)! When the earth is crushed into pieces,

22. And (with death) the angels (forces) line up in ranks with (the command of your) Rabb,

23. It is then that Hell will be brought (to enclose the earth)! And man at that time will remember and think, but what benefit to him will the remembrance be (when he no longer has a body – brain with which he can develop his spirit)?

24. He will say “I wish I had done beneficial things (raised my consciousness level to observe the Names).”

25. And nothing can cause him more suffering at that time than the suffering by Him!

26. And nothing can bind him like the binding of Him!

27. “O the peaceful self (nafs-i mutmainna; one who has reached a state of contentment in experiencing the reality)!”

28. Turn to your Rabb (your essence) as the pleased self (nafs-i radhiya) and the pleasing self (nafs-i mardhiya) (as consciousness, experiencing the beauty of observation and providence)!”

29. “And enter among my servants (who continue their functions having annihilated their ‘identities’ – their assumed selves – to the bliss of nonexistence)!”

30. “And enter my Paradise!”