Ан-Намль 27:67–93

And the disbelievers say, also in rejecting the [idea of] resurrection: ‘What! When we and our fathers are dust shall we indeed be brought forth [again]?, from the graves.

Already we and our fathers have been promised this before. [But] these are just the [legendary] fables of the ancients’ (asātīr is the plural of ustūra, meaning ‘what has been written down [mā sutira] of lies’).

Say: ‘Travel in the land and see how was the sequel for the criminals’, because of their denials — and this [sequel] is that they were destroyed with punishment.

And do not grieve for them, and do not be distressed by their schemes — this is meant to comfort the Prophet (s), in other words, do not be concerned with their plotting against you, for We will grant you victory over them.

And they say, ‘When will this promise, of chastisement, be, if you are truthful?’, regarding it.

Say: ‘It may be that part of what you seek to hasten on is close behind you’ — so they were slain at Badr and the remaining chastisement will come to them after death.

And surely your Lord is bountiful to mankind, an example of which is His deferring chastisement for the disbelievers, but most of them are not thankful — disbelievers are not grateful for the deferring of chastisement since they reject [the fact] that it will ever come to pass.

And surely your Lord knows what their hearts conceal, [what these] hide, and what they proclaim, by their tongues.

And there is not a thing hidden in the heaven and the earth (the hā’ [tā’ marbūta] of ghā’ibatun is hyperbole, in other words, anything that is completely hidden from people) but it is in a manifest Book, namely, [in] the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfūz) and in God’s concealed knowledge, an example of which is the [time of the] chastising of the disbelievers.

Truly this Qur’ān recounts to the Children of Israel — those living at the time of our Prophet — [the means to resolve] most of that concerning which they differ, that is, by virtue of the fact that it expounds the said [differences] as they should be, eliminating any disagreements between them, if only they were to implement it and submit [to its prescriptions].

And truly it is a guidance, from error, and a mercy for believers, from chastisement.

Surely your Lord will decide between them, as [He will] with others on the Day of Resurrection, of His judgement, that is, His justice. And He is the Mighty, the Victor, the Knower, of what He judges, so that none will be able to oppose Him in the way that the disbelievers have opposed His prophets in this world.

So rely on God, trust in Him, for you are indeed upon the manifest truth, [upon] the manifest religion: the sequel shall be in your favour, with victory over the disbelievers. God then draws comparisons between them and the dead, the deaf and the blind, saying:

Indeed you cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when (al-du‘ā’a idhā, read by pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second one, eliding it with the yā’) they have turned their backs [upon you];

nor can you lead the blind out of their error. You can only make those hear — hear so as to comprehend and accept — who believe in Our signs — the Qur’ān — and have therefore submitted, [are therefore] sincere in their affirmation of God’s Oneness.

And when the word [of judgement] falls upon them, [when] they deserve that chastisement befalls them as well as all [other] disbelievers, We shall bring forth for them a beast from the earth which shall speak to them [saying], that is, which shall speak in Arabic to those who are alive at the time when it appears, among its other statements, it will say to them on Our behalf: ‘Indeed mankind (read tukallimuhum inna’l-nāsa; a variant has tukallimuhum bi-anna’l-nāsa, ‘to tell them that mankind’) had no faith in Our signs’, in other words, they did not believe in the Qur’ān and what it comprises [of the mention] of resurrection, reckoning and requital. With its [the beast’s] appearance the enjoining of decency and forbidding of indecency will cease, and thereafter no disbeliever will believe — just as God revealed to Noah [when He said to him]: None of your people will believe except he who has already believed [Q. 11:36].

And, mention, the day when We shall gather from every community a group of those who denied Our signs, namely, their leaders, the ones [whom they] followed, and they will be set in array, assembled, with the last of them brought together with the first and then led away,

until, when they arrive, at the site of the Reckoning, He, exalted be He, shall say, to them: ‘Did you deny, My prophets, by [denying], My signs without comprehending them, from the perspective of your denial, in knowledge, or what (ammā: the interrogative mā has been assimilated with am, ‘or’) was it (dhā is a relative pronoun, in other words [it is in fact] mā alladhī) that you did?, with the commands given to you.

And the word [of judgement] shall fall, the chastisement will be due, upon them because of the evil they committed, that is, [because of] what they associated [with God], and they will not speak, since they will have no [valid] argument.

Do they not see that We made, We created, the night that they, like others, may rest in it, and the day for sight?, meaning, [for people] to see in it, so that they may go about their business therein. Surely in that there are signs, indications of His power, exalted be He, for a people who believe — they [the believers] are singled out for mention because they benefit from such [signs] in their faith, in contrast to the disbelievers.

And the day when the Trumpet will be blown, the Horn [will be blown], the First Blast, by [the archangel] Isrāfīl, and whoever is in the heavens and the earth will be terrified, that is, a fright that brings about death — as is stated in another verse, and whoever is in the heavens and whoever is in the earth will swoon [Q. 39:68] (the past tense [fazi‘a] is used to express the fact that such [events] will have occurred); except whom God will, namely, Gabriel, Michael, Isrāfīl and the Angel of Death. According to Ibn ‘Abbās, however, these [excepted individuals] are the martyrs who are [described as], living with their Lord, provided for [by Him]’ [Q. 3:169]. And all (kullun: the nunation compensates for the [missing] genitive annexation), in other words, and every one of them, after being brought back to life on the Day of Resurrection, will come to Him (read in the form of the verb [atawhu] or the active participle [ātūhu]) in [utter] humility, humbled (the past tense, atawhu, is used to express the fact that this will have happened).

And you see the mountains, you notice them, at the moment of the Blast, supposing them to be still, stationary in their place, because of their tremendous size, while they drift like passing clouds, [like the drifting of the] rain when it is blown around by the wind, in other words, they [the mountains] will be drifting in like manner until they [eventually] fall to the ground, whereby they are flattened before becoming like [tufts of] ‘wool’ [cf. Q. 101:5] and then ‘scattered dust’ [cf. Q. 56:6]. God’s handiwork (sun‘a, a verbal noun emphasising the import of the preceding sentence, and which has been annexed [in a genitive construction] to its agent [Allāhi, ‘God’] after the omission of its operator) Who has perfected everything, that He has made. Truly He is aware of what you do (taf‘alūna; or [read] yaf‘alūna, ‘[what] they do’), namely, His enemies, [what they do] in the way of disobedience, and His friends, in the way of obedience.

Whoever brings a good deed, namely, [the profession of] ‘there is no god but God’, on the Day of Resurrection, shall have good, [shall have] a reward, for it, because of it (this [khayrun] is not the comparative [‘better’], since there is no deed better [than a good deed]). In another verse [it is stated that] he shall have tenfold the like of it [Q. 6:160]; and they, namely, those who bring such [good deeds], shall be secure from the terror of that day (min faza‘i yawmi’idhin, if read as a genitive annexation; or min faza‘in yawma’idhin, ‘from terror on that day’).

And whoever brings an evil deed, namely, the ascribing of partners [to God], their faces shall be thrust into the Fire, having been oriented towards it — ‘faces’ are specifically mentioned here because of all the sensory organs it is where [a person’s] dignity resides, and so other parts [of the body] are more deserving [of punishment]. It shall be said to them in reproach: ‘Are you requited except, the requital, for what you used to do?’, in the way of idolatry and acts of disobedience.

Say to them: I have been commanded only to worship the Lord of this land, namely, Mecca, which He has made inviolable, which He has made a secure Sanctuary, one in which no human blood may be shed, no person may be wronged, none of its prey may be hunted and [a sanctuary] which is never deserted. Such were the graces bestowed [by God] upon its inhabitants, the [tribe of] Quraysh, [graces] whereby God has spared their land the suffering and civil strife common to all the [other] lands of the Arabs; and to Whom, exalted be He, all things belong, for He is their Lord, Creator and Possessor. And I have been commanded to be of those who submit, to God, by affirming His Oneness;

and to recite the Qur’ān, to you as a call to faith. So whoever is guided, to it, is guided only for his own sake, since the reward for his being guided will be his; and whoever goes astray, from faith and errs from the path of guidance, say, to him: ‘I am just one of the warners’, the threateners, and therefore my duty is only to deliver [the Message] — this was [revealed] before the command to fight [against the disbelievers].

And say: ‘Praise be to God. He will show you His signs and you will recognise them. Thus on the day of Badr God showed them how it was to be killed, to be taken prisoner and to be beaten by the angels on their faces and backs; and God hastened on for them the [punishment of the] Fire. And your Lord is not oblivious of what they do’ (ya‘malūna; or [read] ta‘malūna, ‘[what] you do’) but grants them respite until their [appointed] time [of requital].