Surah 'Abasa: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

O Prophet! While you were conveying Allah’s call to the leaders of those who associate partners with Allah, the blind man came and asked you a question, and you were annoyed and frowned, as if to say, “Is this the time?” Yet that man had come with great eagerness, opening his heart to learn and to be purified. Those leaders, on the other hand, to whom you were giving your full attention, stubbornly denied your call because they considered themselves self-sufficient in every respect. You are not responsible for their unwillingness to be purified, so do not be annoyed by the one who wishes to take heed.

Only those who wish to live in keeping with the reason for their creation take heed from Allah’s verses (His revelation).

The revelation, which is kept on record with Us, is being brought to the Prophet by the angel (Gabriel), whom We have made esteemed, worthy, and powerful in Our presence.

Many people close their eyes and stop their ears to the verses of their Lord, who has endowed them with countless blessings; stepping outside the reason for their creation, they follow beings created like themselves and are ungrateful to their Lord.

Has this human being ever thought about why and how Allah created him? Allah created him from a drop of fluid and then gave him shape. He formed his nature, made known to him how he should live his life and what and whom he should follow in it, and made it easy for him to live on the right path. Then, when the lifespan granted to him is over, He will cause him to die and place him in the grave, and when the time comes He will raise him to life and call him to account for his stance toward Allah’s call in his worldly life.

Despite this truth, the ungrateful stubbornly persist in refusing to live an Allah-centered life.

Do they never turn and look at what they eat and drink, and see the water We send down from the sky, and the vineyards, olive groves, date groves, trees laden with fruits of every kind, plants, and pastures that We grow by splitting open the earth? We created all of these for the benefit of people and animals.

When the day comes and the deafening blast of the Last Hour breaks out, then, from the terror of that Day, a person will flee even from his own brother, his mother, his father, his spouse, and his children, for on that Day everyone will be preoccupied with his own plight.

On that Day, the faces of those who believed in Allah’s call, which came through His prophets and books, and fulfilled their responsibilities will shine with joy and happiness. But the faces of those who rejected the system of life and morality to which they were invited and turned their backs will turn pitch-black with the fear of Hell.