THE CATASTROPHE
and what is the Catastrophe
Would that you knew what the Catastrophe is
Thamūd and ‘Ād denied the Last Judgement
By a deafening shout was Thamūd destroyed
and ‘Ād by a howling, violent gal
which He let loose on them for seven nights and eight successive days: you might have seen the people lying dead as though they had been hollow trunks of palm-trees
Can you see even one of them still around
Pharaoh, and those before him, and the inhabitants of the Ruined Cities, also committed si
and disobeyed their Lord‘s apostle. With a terrible scourge He smote them
When the Flood rose high We carried you² in the floating ark
making it a memorable event, so that all attentive ears might heed it
When the Trumpet sounds a single blast
when earth and mountains are raised high and with one mighty crash are flattened into dust ―
on that day the Dread Event will come to pass
The sky will be rent asunder on that day, frail and tottering,
and the angels will stand on every side with eight of them carrying the Throne of your Lord above their heads
On that day you shall be utterly exposed, and nothing that you hid shall be hidden
He who is given his book in his right hand will say: ‘Here it is, read my book
I knew I should come face to face with my account!‘
His shall be a blissful stat
in a lofty Garden
with clusters of fruit within his reach
Eat and drink to your heart‘s content: your recompense for what you did in days gone by.‘
But he who is given his book in his left hand will say: ‘Would that I were not given my book
Would that I knew nothing of my account
Would that my death had ended all
Nothing has my wealth availed me
and bereft am I of all my power.‘
Lay hold of him and bind him
Then burn him in the fire of Hell
and then fasten him with a chain seventy cubits long
For he did not believe in God, the Most Great
nor did he care to feed the destitute
Today he shall be friendless here
only filth shall be his food
the filth which only sinners eat.‘
I swear by all that you can see
and all that is hidden from your view
that this is the utterance of a noble messenger
It is no poet‘s speech: scant is your faith
It is no soothsayer‘s divination: how little you reflect
It is a revelation from the Lord of the Universe
Had he invented lies concerning Us
We would have seized him by the right han
and severed his heart‘s vein
not one of you could have protected him
It¹ is but an Admonition to the righteous
We well know that there are some among you who will deny it
It is the despair of the unbelievers
It is the indubitable Truth
Praise, then, the name of your Lord, the Almighty