Surah Al-Fajr: Thematic English Translation (Mustafa Çevik)

By that night on which the Quran, sent to bring people out of darkness into light, began to be sent down; by the morning of that night; by the excitement felt during the first ten nights, which began with that night; and by what is paired and what is single: Allah did not create the human being without reason and to no purpose. Indeed, whoever puts his reason to work and reflects understands and grasps that he was not created in vain.

To the people of Ad, who owned cities built and adorned with great care and furnished with vineyards and gardens; to the people of Thamud, who, by carving the rocks, built cities the like of which had never been built until then; and to Pharaoh, who with his pyramids drove stakes into the earth, and to his people: to them, too, Allah had sent prophets as messengers and invited them to live by the system and morality that is the reason for their creation. But they rejected the call and would not give up their transgression, insolence, shirk (associating partners with Allah), and disbelief, and so Allah punished them with the punishment they deserved. Allah, your Lord, sees and keeps watch over everyone at every moment.

Whenever Allah, to test the human being, honors him generously with His blessings, the human being at once says, “My Lord has given me what I deserve.” But whenever, to test him, He restricts his provision, he is quick to say, “My Lord has betrayed me and treated me unjustly.”

The truth is that the human being always expects Allah to give him whatever he wants, yet he himself always avoids giving for Allah’s sake: he shows no generosity to the motherless and the fatherless, does not meet the needs of the poor, does not take the lead in seeing that they are looked after and protected, does not shrink from consuming inheritance without regard for right or law, and is attached to wealth and property with a boundless, immoderate love.

When the earth is violently shaken and shattered to pieces; when the angels, ready to carry out their duties, stand in rows awaiting Allah’s commands; and when Allah’s sovereignty becomes plainly manifest in all its majesty: the punishment will be brought before the eyes of those who, though they were warned of Hell, paid no attention to the warning. On that Day the human being will remember everything he did and did not do, but this remembering and these regrets will no longer be of any use to him... He will say, “Ah, if only, when I was given counsel and warned that these days would come, I had listened to the warning, followed the call made in Allah’s name, and prepared for these days!”

On that Day no one can inflict a punishment like the punishment Allah will inflict on those who associate partners with Him and on the disbelievers, nor can anyone prevent it.

And to those who submitted to Allah’s call and completed their worldly lives by fulfilling their responsibilities, it will be said on that Day, “Enter Paradise, to attain peace, happiness, and blessings of matchless beauty.” Thus it will have become plain that Allah is well pleased with them and that they are well pleased with Allah.