81. Extinguished! (Wrapping Things Up)

81. Extinguished!
(Wrapping Things Up)

THESE 29 EARLY Meccan verses were revealed after The Flame (OR Palm Fibre)111 and before Glory to Your Lord in the Highest 87. The chapter is quite poetic, and rhymed throughout; it concerns the Last Judgment, and in this aspect resembles Chapter 74 The Man Wearing a Cloak. Its graphic quality conveys vivid dreams or visions to us, while the prophetic message moves swiftly.

In the name of God, the Mercy-giving,, the Merciful !

* When the sun has been extinguished,
* when the stars slip out of place,
* when the mountains travel along,
* when ten-month pregnant camels are neglected,
* when wild beasts are herded together,
* when the seas overflow,
* when souls are reunited,
* when the buried girl is asked
* for what offence she has been killed,
* when scriptures are unrolled,
* when the sky is stripped bare,
* when Hades is set blazing,
* when the Garden is brought close,
* each soul shall know
what it has prepared!

** So I swear by the planets
* moving, sweeping along,
* and night as it draws on,
* and morn when it breathes again,
* it is a statement by a generous messenger
** possessing strength established
by the One Enthroned * Who is
to be Obeyed and more than that
is Trustworthy. * Your companion
is not crazy! * He saw him
on the clear horizon;
* nor was he grudging about the Unseen.
** Nor is it a statement [made]
by some outcast Satan.

The Universal Message

* So where are you (all) heading for?
* It is merely a Reminder
to [everyone in] the Universe.
* So anyone of you who wishes
may go straight. * Yet you will only wish
whatever God, Lord of the Universe,
may wish.

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Published with authorization from Dr.T.B.Irving .