| | Muhammad Asad rendition of Surah The Winnowing Winds, The Scatterers(adh-Dhariyat)
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| 51:1 | | CONSIDER the winds that scatter the dust far and wide, |
| 51:2 | | and those that carry the burden [of heavy clouds], |
| 51:3 | | and those that speed along with gentle ease, |
| 51:4 | | and those that apportion [the gift of life] at [God’s] behest! |
| 51:5 | | Verily, that which you are promised is true indeed, |
| 51:6 | | and, verily, judgment is bound to come! |
| 51:7 | | CONSIDER the firmament full of starry paths! |
| 51:8 | | Verily, [O men,] you are deeply at variance as to what to believe: |
| 51:9 | | perverted in his views thereon is he who would deceive himself! |
| 51:10 | | They but destroy themselves, they who are given to guessing at what they cannot ascertain – |
| 51:11 | | they who blunder along, in ignorance lost – |
| 51:12 | | they who [mockingly] ask, “When is that Day of Judgment to be?” |
| 51:13 | | [It will be] a Day when they will be sorely tried by the fire, |
| 51:14 | | [and will be told:] “Taste this your trial! It is this that you were so hastily asking for!” |
| 51:15 | | [But,] behold, the God-conscious will find themselves amid gardens and springs, |
| 51:16 | | enjoying all that their Sustainer will have granted them [because], verily, they were doers of good in the past: |
| 51:17 | | they would lie asleep during but a small part of the night, |
| 51:18 | | and would pray for forgiveness from their innermost hearts; |
| 51:19 | | and [would assign] in all that they possessed a due share unto such as might ask [for help] and such as might suffer privation. |
| 51:20 | | AND ON EARTH there are signs [of God’s existence, visible] to all who are endowed with inner certainty, |
| 51:21 | | just as [there are signs thereof] within your own selves: can you not, then, see? |
| 51:22 | | And in heaven is [the source of] your sustenance [on earth] and [of] all that you are promised [for your life after death]: |
| 51:23 | | for, by the Sustainer of heaven and earth, this [life after death] is the very truth - as true as that you are endowed with speech! |
| 51:24 | | AND HAS the story of Abraham’s honoured guests ever come within thy ken? |
| 51:25 | | When those [heavenly messengers] came unto him and bade him peace, he answered, “[And upon you be] peace!” - [saying to himself,] “They are strangers.” |
| 51:26 | | Then he turned quietly to his household, and brought forth a fat [roasted] calf, |
| 51:27 | | and placed it before them, saying, “Will you not eat?” |
| 51:28 | | [And when he saw that the guests would not eat,] he became apprehensive of them; [but] they said, “Fear not” - and gave him the glad tiding of [the birth of] a son who would be endowed with deep knowledge. |
| 51:29 | | Thereupon his wife approached [the guests] with a loud cry, and struck her face [in astonishment] and exclaimed: “A barren old woman [like me]!” |
| 51:30 | | They answered: “Thus has thy Sustainer decreed; and, verily, He alone is truly wise, all- knowing!” |
| 51:31 | | Said [Abraham]: “And what [else] may you have in view, O you [heavenly] messengers?” |
| 51:32 | | They answered: “Behold, we have been sent unto a people lost in sin, |
| 51:33 | | to let loose upon them stone-hard blows of chastisement, |
| 51:34 | | marked out in thy Sustainer’s sight for [the punishment of] such as have wasted their own selves.” |
| 51:35 | | And in the course of time We brought out [of Lot ’s city] such [few] believers as were there: |
| 51:36 | | for apart from one [single] house We did not find there any who had surrendered themselves to Us. |
| 51:37 | | And so We left therein a message for those who fear the grievous suffering [which awaits all evildoers]. |
| 51:38 | | AND IN [the story of Pharaoh and] Moses, too, [We left the same message: for] when We sent him unto Pharaoh with [Our] manifest authority, |
| 51:39 | | and he turned away in [the pride of] his power and said, “A sorcerer [is this Moses], or a madman!” – |
| 51:40 | | We seized him and his hosts, and cast them all into the sea: and [none but Pharaoh] himself was to blame [for what happened]. |
| 51:41 | | And [you have the same message] in [what happened to the tribe of] Ad, when We let loose against them that life-destroying wind |
| 51:42 | | which spared nothing of what it came upon, but caused [all of] it to become like bones dead and decayed. |
| 51:43 | | And in [the story of the tribe of] Thamud, too, when they were told, “You shall enjoy your life for [but] a little while,” |
| 51:44 | | after they had turned with disdain from their Sustainer’s commandment - whereupon the thunderbolt of punishment overtook them while they were [helplessly] looking on: |
| 51:45 | | for they were unable even to rise, and could not defend themselves. |
| 51:46 | | And [thus, too, We destroyed] Noah’s people aforetime: for they were iniquitous folk. |
| 51:47 | | AND IT IS We who have built the universe with [Our creative] power; and, verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it. |
| 51:48 | | And the earth have We spread out wide - and how well have We ordered it! |
| 51:49 | | And in everything have We created opposites, so that you might bear in mind [that God alone is One]. |
| 51:50 | | And so, [O Muhammad, say unto them:] “Flee unto God [from all that is false and evil]! Verily, I am a plain warner to you from Him! |
| 51:51 | | And do not ascribe divinity to aught side by side with God: verily, I am a plain warner to you from Him!” |
| 51:52 | | [But] thus it is: never yet came any apostle to those who lived before their time but they said, “A spel1binder |
| 51:53 | | Have they, perchance, handed down this [way of thinking] as a legacy unto one another? Nay, they are people filled with overweening arrogance! |
| 51:54 | | Turn, then, away from them, and thou shalt incur no blame; |
| 51:55 | | yet go on reminding [all who would listen]: for, verily, such a reminder will profit the believers. |
| 51:56 | | And [tell them that] I have not created the invisible beings and men to any end other than that they may [know and] worship Me. |
| 51:57 | | [But withal,] no sustenance do I ever demand of them, nor do I demand that they feed Me: |
| 51:58 | | for, verily, God Himself is the Provider of all sustenance, the Lord of all might, the Eternal! |
| 51:59 | | And, verily, they who are bent on doing evil shall have their share [of evil] like unto the share of their fellows [of old]: so let them not ask Me to hasten [their doom]! |
| 51:60 | | For, woe unto those who are bent on denying the truth - [woe] on the Day which they have been promised |
