Surah Adh-Dhariyat: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

By the winds that blow and scatter, that whirl dust and earth together, that gather the rain-laden clouds and drive them along to where they must go; and by the angels who, by Allah’s command, apportion and direct the winds: all that you are promised will surely come to pass. The Day of Reckoning will certainly come, and every person will be called to account for his stance toward Allah’s call in his worldly life and receive the recompense he deserves.

O you who close your eyes and stop your ears to the truth! Just look at the perfect order in the sky, adorned with stars, each of which runs its course in its own orbit, and reflect: will you be able to see any disorder there?

Yet your thoughts are disordered and in pieces; your beliefs and your words have no foundation and no support; your life is full of contradictions; you keep floundering in shirk and disbelief. In ignorant stubbornness you deprive yourselves of the call being made in Allah’s name through the Quran.

Woe to those who choose as their way of life falsehood made up by themselves or by beings created like themselves... They are floundering in a pit of deep ignorance.

And on top of that they keep mockingly asking, “When will this Day of Requital come?” Let them know well that That Day is the day they will all be cast into the Fire. On That Day they will be told, “Now taste the punishment you kept mocking and insistently asking about, and said should come at once so that you might see it.”

On the other hand, those who believe in Allah’s call and live mindful of their responsibility on the Day of Reckoning will live in happiness by springs, in the Gardens their Lord bestows, rewarded with blessings.

In their effort to fulfill their responsibilities toward their Lord, they keep up their striving in Allah’s way by night as well; they sleep little and worship. In the hours before dawn they pray and ask forgiveness. In what they earn there is a share for those in need.

For those who reflect on the reason for their creation and seek the right way of life, there are many proofs on the earth showing the perfection of Allah’s order. The harmonious working together of the organs of your own bodies is also among its clear proofs.

Just as We send down from the sky the rain that is the means of your provision, so too the punishment We warn you of will come from there.

By the Lord of the heavens and the earth, you can be as sure as you are of your own name that the Day of Resurrection and Reckoning you are promised is real and will come.

O Prophet! Tell people the story of Abraham and the honored guests who came to him. They knocked at Abraham’s door and greeted him with peace; and Abraham, having returned their greeting and invited them in, said to himself, “These are not people I know; what can they have come for?” Then he went to his wife, brought roast veal to offer his guests, and invited them to help themselves.

When he saw that his guests did not touch the food, he grew suspicious of them, and a fear came over him. At this the guests said to Abraham, “Do not be afraid!” and gave him the good news of a son who would be learned, act on his knowledge, and be a model of good character. Hearing this, Abraham’s wife let out a cry of excitement, struck her face with her hand, and said, “What? I have lived until now as an old and, what is more, barren woman; how, from now on, can I have a child?”

The guests said to her: “Yes, it is so; but your Lord has decreed it. Surely He has power to do what He wills; He knows what is truest in everything; He is supreme in knowledge, power, judgment, and wisdom.”

Abraham asked them: “O messengers! Is the reason you have come here to give us this good news, or are there other reasons too?”

The messenger angels said to Abraham: “We have also been charged with destroying the people of Lot, nearly all of whom have turned away from believing. We will rain down on them stones of baked clay. It has also been determined whom among that wanton people, who rebelled against Allah and overstepped the bounds, these stones will strike.”

Before the punishment, We brought the believers who had believed with Lot out of that community and took them away. Indeed, among them there were no believers in Allah’s call apart from a single household. At last We punished them in the world with the punishment they deserved, and in the Hereafter a far more severe punishment awaits them.

We left that town as a sign, a marker, a message, so that the end awaiting all those who associate partners with Allah, deny the truth, run wild, and do wrong might be well known and taken as a lesson.

In the story of Moses too there are lessons to be learned. We sent Moses too to Pharaoh and his people with very clear proofs of his prophethood and with miracles. Pharaoh opposed the call Moses made in Allah’s name and rejected it, swaggering insolently and saying, “This man is a sorcerer, or even a madman.” So We destroyed Pharaoh, drowning him in the sea together with his armies.

As Pharaoh was about to drown in the sea, he acknowledged that the true Lord and God is Allah alone, and reproached himself in remorse for not having followed the call made in Allah’s name.

There are lessons to be learned, too, from the scorching, devastating gale of punishment We sent upon the ungrateful people of Ad, who turned their backs on the truth. Such a gale was it that it left not one stone standing on another where it passed, and melted bones, turning them to ash, dust, and smoke.

The end of the people of Thamud is also a lesson. They too insolently opposed and rebelled against the call their prophet made in Allah’s name. They had been given time and opportunity to turn to what is right, and were warned of what would befall them a few days later. But they paid no heed to the warning and said, “Let us see what we will meet in the end,” and at a moment they least expected, the thunderbolt We sent upon them burned them, laid them low, and wiped them out. When they met this punishment they could neither escape nor resist.

Before them the people of Noah too had refused to believe and were punished with the punishment they deserved, drowning in the water. Humankind has lessons to draw from what befell the people of Noah as well.

Look at the sky and consider how We built it and are expanding it, how We formed its order, bound it to laws, and govern it. Then perhaps you will grasp and understand the boundlessness of Our knowledge and power, and that authority to lay down rulings over what We have created and to rule it belongs to Us alone.

It is We who spread out and laid the earth with all its beauties. And We created everything there in pairs. All this is clear proof, for those who use their reason and reflect, of the perfect working of the orders Allah has established.

So, O Prophet, say to people: “O people! Hasten to live within the limits to which Allah invites you; hold fast to Him for your peace and happiness. Never submit to anyone other than Him and take other gods alongside Allah. I have been commanded to convey these truths to you in Allah’s name.” But whenever a prophet came to those before them too, they said of that prophet, “He is a sorcerer, or a madman.” It is as if they had bequeathed to one another the calling of their prophets liars. Without doubt they are all communities that ran wild and overstepped the bounds. Turn away from these wanton, ungrateful people! You are not responsible for their failure to believe.

Keep on counseling and warning people in Allah’s name with the Quran, for those who reflect on the reason for their creation and long to live in keeping with it listen to counsel and warning and arrive at the truth. Counsel benefits only such people.

I created humans and jinn only so that (they would take Me as Lord and God, live within the limits of the system and morality to which I invite them, and so) serve Me by obeying and worshipping Me alone. I want neither provision from them nor that they should feed Me.

It is surely Allah who provides for all that He has created, and His power suffices for everything.

Without doubt those who do not recognize the limits Allah has set and presume to set limits themselves will, like those before them, surely receive their share of the punishment. So let them not be in haste for the punishment promised them to come upon them at once. When That Day, set by law, comes, they will surely meet it. When That Day comes, woe to those who associate partners with Allah, deny the truth, do wrong, and are ungrateful!