عبس

He frowned and turned away

when the blind man came to him––

for all you know, he might have grown in spirit,

or taken note of something useful to him.

For the self-satisfied one

you go out of your way––

though you are not to be blamed for his lack of spiritual growth––

but from the one who has come to you full of eagerness

and awe

you allow yourself to be distracted.

No indeed! This [Quran] is a lesson

from which those who wish to be taught should learn,

[written] on honoured,

exalted, pure pages,

by the hands of

noble and virtuous scribes.

Woe to man! How ungrateful he is!

From what thing does God create him?

He creates him from a droplet, He proportions him,

He makes the way easy for him,

then He causes him to die and be buried.

When He wills, He will raise him up again.

Yet man does not fulfil God’s commands.

Let man consider the food he eats!

We pour down abundant water

and cause the soil to split open.

We make grain grow,

and vines, fresh vegetation,

olive trees, date palms,

luscious gardens,

fruits, and fodder:

all for you and your livestock to enjoy.

When the Deafening Blast comes––

the Day man will flee from his own brother,

his mother, his father,

his wife, his children:

each of them will be absorbed in concerns of their own on that Day-

on that Day some faces will be beaming,

laughing, and rejoicing,

but some faces will be dust-stained

and covered in darkness:

those are the disbelievers, the licentious.