1. By those who pluck out harshly – the angels who pluck out the souls of the unbelievers with violent force,

2. …and those who draw out gently – the angels who draw out the souls of the believers with gentleness and kindness,

3. …and those who glide serenely – the angels who glide down from heaven with the command of Allah,

4. …and those who outrun easily – the angels who race with the souls of the believers to the Garden,

5. …and those who direct affairs! – the angels who manage the business of this world. The subject of these oaths which is elided is: “O unbelievers of Makka, you will be resurrected.”

6. On the Day the first Blast shudders – the first Blast shakes everything and so is described by what happens in it –

7. …and the second Blast follows it – there are forty years between the two. The Last Day is long enough for both blasts and other things as well,

8. …hearts that Day will be pounding – anxious and full of fear –

9. …and eyes will be cast down – abject because of the terrifying sights they see.

10. They (those with hearts and eyes) will say – in mockery, to deny the Resurrection: ‘Are we to be restored to how we were – after death? The word used here al-hafira is a noun meaning the beginning of something. One says that someone returns to his “hafira” when he goes back to where he came from –

11. …when we have become perished (read as nakhira and nakhir, meaning old and crumbling), worm-eaten bones?’

12. They say, ‘That will clearly be a losing restoration!’ Being restored to life, if it is true, will entail loss.

13. There will be but one Great Blast – a reference to the second Blast that is followed by the Resurrection. It will only be blown once.

14. …and at once they will be on the surface, wide awake! All creatures will be alive on the surface of the earth after having been dead inside it.

15. Has the story of Musa reached you – addressed to Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace –

16. …when his Lord called out to him in the holy valley of tuwa (read as tuwa and tuwan)?

17. ‘Go to Pharaoh – he has overstepped the limits in unbelief –

18. …and say: “Do you resolve to purify yourself (read as tazzakka and tazakka)? – I call on you to purify yourselves from shirk by testifying that there is no god but Allah.

19. I will guide you to recognition of your Lord – by evidence – so that you may fear Him.”’

20. Then he showed him the Great Sign – one of the seven signs, referring to the hand or the staff,

21. … but he denied it and disobeyed – Pharaoh denied Musa and disobeyed Allah –

22. …and then he hastily backed away from faith and strove to bring about corruption in the earth.

23. But then he rallied the magicians and his army and called out…

24. …saying, ‘I am your Lord Most High!’ “There is no Lord above me!”

25. So Allah made an example of him and drowned him seizing him with punishment in the Next World and this world. It is also said that what is referred to here are not the Next World and this world, but rather that the punishment is because of an earlier and later statement made by Pharaoh; the later being the one mentioned here, “I am your Lord Most High!”, and the earlier, “I do not know of any other god for you apart from me.” (28:38) Forty years passed between the two statements.

26. There is certainly instruction in that which has been mentioned for those who fear Allah.

27. Are you who deny the Resurrection stronger in structure or is heaven? He built it.

28. He raised its vault high and made it level. This describes how He built it. He made its elevation high. It is also said that this refers to its ceiling. He made it level without any fault in it.

29. He darkened its night and brought forth its morning light. He made the light of the sun appear. He ascribed night to the sky because it makes it dark and the sun to it because it is the lamp of the sky.

30. After that He smoothed out the earth and spread it out. The earth was created before the sky, but was not spread out –

31. …and brought forth from it its water as springs and its pasture - land to be grazed by animals: in other words, grass, trees and bushes and foodstuffs and fruits that are edible for mankind,

32. …and made the mountains firm on the surface of the earth so that it would be stable –

33. …for you and for your livestock to enjoy. That is enjoyment and goods for you and for your flocks of camels, cattle and sheep and goats.

34. When the Great Calamity – the Second Blast of the Trumpet – comes,

35. …that Day man will remember the good and evil of what he has striven for in this world…

36. …and the Blazing Fire will be displayed for all who can see – meaning everyone.

37. As for him who overstepped the bounds and disbelieved …

38. …and preferred to follow his appetites in the life of this world,

39. …the Blazing Fire will be his refuge.

40. But as for him who feared the Station of his Lord – the time when he will stand before Allah – and forbade the lower self – which commands to evil the ruinous passions displayed by following its appetites,

41. …the Garden will be his refuge. The disobedient will go to the Fire and the obedient to the Garden.

42. They (the unbelievers of Makka) ask you about the Last Hour: ‘When will it arrive?’

43. What are you doing mentioning it – anything about it? “You have insufficient knowledge even to mention it.”

44. Its coming is your Lord’s affair. The knowledge of its time is with Allah, and only He knows it.

45. You are only the warner of those who fear it. Your warning only benefits those who fear it.

46. On the Day they see it, it will be as if they had only lingered in their graves for the evening or the morning of a single day.