[He is] the One who causes the dawn to break; and He has made the night to be [a source of] stillness, and the sun and the moon to run their appointed courses:* [all] this is laid down by the will of the Almighty, the All-Knowing.

But then, once it alights upon them, hapless will be the awakening of those who were warned [to no avail]!*

And, indeed, abiding suffering did befall them early on the morrow:

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His light is, as it were,* that of a niche containing a lamp; the lamp is [enclosed] in glass, the glass [shining] like a radiant star:* [a lamp] lit from a blessed tree - an olive-tree that is neither of the east nor of the west* the oil whereof [is so bright that it] would well-nigh give light [of itself] even though fire had not touched it: light upon light!* God guides unto His light him that wills [to be guided];* and [to this end] God propounds parables unto men, since God [alone] has full knowledge of all things.*

And He [it is who] decreed that they become seven heavens* in two aeons, and imparted unto each heaven its function. And We adorned the skies nearest to the earth with lights, and made them secure:* such is the ordaining of the Almighty, the All-Knowing.

And, indeed, We have adorned the skies nearest to the earth with lights,* and have made them the object of futile guesses for the evil ones [from among men]:* and for them have We readied suffering through a blazing flame –

[Whereupon the angels] said: "O Lot! Behold, we are messengers from thy Sustainer! Never shall [thy enemies] attain to thee! Depart, then, with thy household while it is yet night, and let none of you look back;* [and take with thee all thy family] with the exception of thy wife: for, behold, that which is to befall these [people of Sodom] shall befall her [as well].* Verily, their appointed time is the morning [and] is not the morning nigh?"

and the morn when it dawns!

and the morn as it softly breathes:

rushing to assault at morn,

And [through Our messengers] We revealed unto him this decree: "The last remnant of those [sinners] shall be wiped out"* in the morn."

and so the blast [of Our punishment] overtook them at early morn,

and, verily, [to this day] you pass by the remnants of their dwellings at morning-time

[As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them* as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow,

Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another,

And hold fast, all together, unto the bond with God, and do not draw apart from one another. And remember the blessings which God has bestowed upon you: how, when you were enemies, He brought your hearts together, so that through His blessing you became brethren; and [how, when] you were on the brink of a fiery abyss.* He saved you from it. In this way God makes clear His messages unto you, so that you might find guidance,

But the other's passion* drove him to slaying his brother; and he slew him: and thus he became one of the lost.

Thereupon God sent forth a raven which scratched the earth, to show him how he might conceal the nakedness of his brother's body. [And Cain] cried out: "Oh, woe is me! Am I then too weak to do what this raven did,* and to conceal the nakedness of my brother's body?" - and was thereupon smitten with remorse.*

And yet thou canst see how those in whose hearts there is disease vie with one another for their good will,* saying [to themselves], "We fear lest fortune turn against us." But God may well bring about good fortune [for the believers] or any [other] event of His own devising,* whereupon those [waverers] will be smitten with remorse for the thoughts which they had secretly harboured within themselves-

while those who have attained to faith will say [to one another], "Are these the selfsame people who swore by God with their most solemn oaths that they were indeed with you? In vain are all their works, for now they are lost!"

People before your time have indeed asked such questions-and in result thereof have come to deny the truth.*

Thereupon an earthquake overtook them: and then they lay lifeless, in their very homes, on the ground.*

Thereupon an earthquake overtook them: and then they lay lifeless, in their very homes, on the ground* -

And the blast [of God's punishment] overtook those who had been bent on evildoing: and then they lay lifeless, in their very homes, on the ground,*

And so, when Our judgment came to pass, by Our grace We saved Shu'ayb and those who shared his faith, whereas the blast [of Our punishment] overtook those who had been bent on evildoing: and then they lay lifeless, in their very homes, on the ground,*

yet it may well be that my Sustainer will give me something better than thy garden -just as He may let loose a calamity out of heaven upon this [thy garden], so that it becomes a heap of barren dust

or its water sinks deep into the ground, so that thou wilt never be able to find it again!"

And [thus it happened:] his fruitful gardens were encompassed [by ruin], and there he was, wringing his hands over all that he had spent on that which now lay waste, with its trellises caved in; and he could but say, "Oh, would that I had not attributed divine powers to any but my Sustainer!"

AND PROPOUND unto them the parable of the life of this world: [it is] like the water which We send down from the skies, and which is absorbed by the plants of the earth: but [in time] they turn into dry . stubble which the winds blow freely about. And it is God [alone] who determines all things.

Art thou not aware that it's God who sends down water from the skies, whereupon the earth becomes green? Verily, God is unfathomable [in His wisdom], all-aware.*

[And God] would say: “After a little while they will surely be smitten with remorse!''*

But they cruelly slaughtered her - and then they had cause to regret it:*

On the morrow, however, an aching void grew up in the heart of the mother of Moses, and she would indeed have disclosed all about him* had We not endowed her heart with enough strength to keep alive her faith [in Our promise].*

And next morning he found himself in the city, looking fearfully about him, when lo! the one who had sought his help the day before [once again] cried out to him [for help* whereupon] Moses said unto him: “Behold, thou art indeed, most clearly, deeply in the wrong!*

And on the morrow, those who but yesterday had longed to be in his place exclaimed: “Alas [for our not having been aware] that it is indeed God [alone] who grants abundant sustenance, or gives it in scant measure, unto whichever He wills of His crea­tures! Had not God been gracious to us, He might have caused [the earth] to swallow us, too! Alas [for our having forgotten] that those who deny the truth can never attain to a happy state!"

But they gave him the lie. Thereupon an earthquake overtook them: and then they lay lifeless, in their very homes, on the ground.*

EXTOL, then, God's limitless glory when you enter upon the evening hours, and when you rise at morn;

and that very thought which you thought about your Sustainer has brought you to perdition, and so now you find yourselves among the lost!"

bound to destroy everything at its Sustainer's behest!" And then they were so utterly wiped out* that nothing could be seen save their [empty] dwellings: thus do We requite people lost in sin.

O YOU who have attained to faith! If any iniquitous person comes to you with a [slanderous] tale, use your discernment,* lest you hurt people unwittingly and afterwards be filled with remorse for what you have done.*

O YOU who have attained to faith! Be helpers [in the cause of God - even as Jesus, the son of Mary, said unto the white-garbed ones,* "Who will be my helpers in God's cause?" - whereupon the white-garbed [disciples] replied, "We shall be [thy] helpers [in the cause] of God!" And so [it happened that] some of the children of Israel came to believe [in the apostleship of Jesus], whereas others denied the truth.* But [now] We have given strength against their foes unto those who have [truly] attained to faith:* and they have become the ones that shall prevail.

Say [unto those who deny the truth]: "What do you think? If of a sudden all your water were to vanish underground, who [but God] could provide you with water from [new] unsullied springs?"*

so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak.