The Holy Qur'an (Maulana Muhammad Ali)/88. The Overwhelming Event

88. The Overwhelming Event (Al-Ghashiyah)

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

¹ Has there come to thee the news of the Overwhelming Event?

² Faces on that day will be downcast,

³ Labouring, toiling,

⁴ Entering burning Fire,

⁵ Made to drink from a boiling spring.

⁶ They will have no food but of thorns,

⁷ Neither nourishing nor satisfying hunger.

⁸ Faces on that day will be happy,

⁹ Glad for their striving,

¹⁰ In a lofty Garden,

¹¹ Wherein thou wilt hear no vain talk.

¹² Therein is a fountain flowing.

¹³ Therein are thrones raised high,

¹⁴ And drinking-cups ready placed,

¹⁵ And cushions set in rows,

¹⁶ And carpets spread out.

¹⁷ See they not the clouds, how they are created?

¹⁸ And the heaven, how it is raised high?

¹⁹ And the mountains, how they are fixed?

²⁰ And the earth, how it is spread out?

²¹ So remind. Thou art only one to remind.

²² Thou art not a warder over them --

²³ But whoever turns back and disbelieves,

²⁴ Allah will chastise him with the greatest chastisement.

²⁵ Surely to Us is their return,

²⁶ Then it is for Us to call them to account.