The Splitting Open

but he will enter the blazing flame.

WHEN THE SKY is split asunder,

obeying its Sustainer, as in truth it must;

and when the earth is leveled,

and casts forth whatever is in it, and becomes utterly void,

obeying its Sustainer, as in truth it must -:

[then,] O man - thou [that] hast, verily, been toiling towards thy Sustainer in painful toil - then shalt thou meet Him!

And as for him whose record shall be placed in his right hand,

he will in time be called to account with an easy accounting,

and will [be able to] turn joyfully to those of his own kind.

But as for him whose record shall be given to him behind his back;

he will in time pray for utter destruction:

Behold, [in his earthly life] he lived joyfully among people of his own kind

for, behold, he never thought that he would have to return [to God].

Yea indeed! His Sustainer did see all that was in him!

BUT NAY! I call to witness the sunset's [fleeting] afterglow,

and the night, and what it [step by step] unfolds,

and the moon, as it grows to its fullness:

[even thus, O men,] are you bound to move; onward from stage to stage.

What, then, is amiss with them that they will not believe [in a life to come]?

and [that], when the Qur’an is read unto them, they do not fall down in prostration?

Nay, but they who are bent on denying the truth give the lie [to this divine writ]!

Yet God has full knowledge of what they conceal [in their hearts].

Hence, give them the tiding of grievous suffering [in the life to come] –

unless it be such [of them] as [repent, and] attain to faith, and do good works: for theirs shall be a reward unending!.