86. Sūrat At-Tariq · The Nightcomer

By the heaven and the nightly star!

By the heaven and the Morning Star

CONSIDER the heavens and that which comes in the night!

By the heaven and the night comer.

By the (endless expanse and infinite space of) heaven and the Nightly (discernable) Visitant

And what will make you realize what the nightly star is?

- Ah, what will tell thee what the Morning Star is!

And what could make thee conceive what it is that comes in the night?

And have you known anything, what the night comer is?

And what do you know what the Nightly (discernable) Visitant is

˹It is˺ the star of piercing brightness.

- The piercing Star!

It is the star that pierces through [life's] darkness:

The bright shining star.

(It implies) every heavenly body (be it a star, a planet, or any of the heavenly spheres) which shines and brightens (the space).

There is no soul without a vigilant angel ˹recording everything˺.

No human soul but hath a guardian over it.

[for] no human being has ever been left unguarded.

There is no soul but there is a guardian over it.

There is no human soul but with a protector (appointed) over it

Let people then consider what they were created from!

So let man consider from what he is created.

LET MAN, then, observe out of what he has been created:

Then let man consider, from what he is created.

So man should ponder (and find out) from what substance he has been created

˹They were˺ created from a spurting fluid,

He is created from a gushing fluid

he has been created out of a seminal fluid

Created from a gushing water.

He has been created from the ejaculated fluid (i.e., virile and motile sperm)

stemming from between the backbone and the ribcage.

That issued from between the loins and ribs.

issuing from between the loins [of man] and the pelvic arch [of woman].

Which comes out from between the loins and the ribs.

That proceeds from the middle of the sacrum (and pelvic girdle) and is ejected

Surely He is fully capable of bringing them back ˹to life˺

Lo! He verily is Able to return him (unto life)

Now, verily, He [who thus creates man in the first instance] is well able to bring him back [to life]

Undoubtedly, Allah has power to restore him.

Indeed, He has the power to bring it (life) back

on the Day all secrets will be disclosed.

On the day when hidden thoughts shall be searched out.

on the Day when all secrets will be laid bare,

The day when the secrets shall be tested.

The Day when all secrets will be disclosed

Then one will have neither power nor ˹any˺ helper.

Then will he have no might nor any helper.

and [man] will have neither strength nor helper!

Then man shall have no strength, no helper.

Then man will have neither any strength (himself) nor any helper

By the sky with its recurring cycles,

By the heaven which giveth the returning rain,

Consider the heavens, ever-revolving,

By heaven from which rain pours down,

By the heavenly universe which will regress to its primitive state

and the earth with its sprouting plants!

And the earth which splitteth (with the growth of trees and plants)

and the earth, bursting forth with plants!

And the earth that splits thereof.

And by the earth which will split asunder (and change into dust particles)

Surely this ˹Quran˺ is a decisive word,

Lo! this (Qur'an) is a conclusive word,

BEHOLD, this [divine writ] is indeed a word that between truth and falsehood,

Undoubtedly, Quran is necessarily a decisive word.

This is indeed a decisive (i.e., absolute) commandment

and is not to be taken lightly.

It is no pleasantry.

and is no idle tale.

And it is no merriment.

And it is no joke

They are certainly devising ˹evil˺ plans,

Lo! they plot a plot (against thee, O Muhammad)

Behold, they [who refuse to accept it] devise many a false argument [to disprove its truth];

Undoubtedly, the infidels are planning their own plan.

Indeed, they (the disbelievers) are hatching plots

but I too am planning.

And I plot a plot (against them).

but I shall bring all their scheming to nought.

And I arrange My secret plan.

And I am designing My own strategy

So bear with the disbelievers ˹O Prophet˺. Let them be for ˹just˺ a little while.

So give a respite to the disbelievers. Deal thou gently with them for a while.

Let, then, the deniers of the truth have their will: let them have their will for a little while.

So give a long rope to the infidels, give them some time.

So give the disbelievers a respite (for a while, not much); let them relax a little (more)