Meccan, consisting of 50 verses.

By those sent in succession (‘urfan), that is, [by] the winds that follow [one another] in succession, like the mane (‘urf) of a horse, one part [of hair] coming after the other (‘urfan is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier);

by the raging hurricanes, the violent winds;

by the sweeping spreaders, [by] the winds that scatter the rains;

by the decisive discriminators, that is, [by] the verses of the Qur’ān, which discriminate between truth and falsehood, and between what is lawful and what is unlawful;

by the casters of the remembrance, that is, [by] angels that descend with the revelation upon the prophets and messengers, casting the revelation onto the [various] communities [of mankind],

to excuse or to warn, that is to say, in order to excuse or to warn on behalf of God, exalted be He (a variant reading [for nudhran and ‘udhran] has nudhuran and ‘udhuran).

Surely that which you are promised, O disbelievers of Mecca, in the way of resurrection and chastisement, will befall: it will be, without any doubt.

So when the stars are obliterated, [when] their light is extinguished,

and when the heaven is rent asunder,

and when the mountains are blown away, crushed to pieces and blown in the air,

and when the time is set for the [testimony of the] messengers (read uqqitat or wuqqitat), that is to say, [when] they are gathered to an appointed time,

For what day — for a tremendous day — has it been appointed?, [it has been appointed] for witnessing [of the messengers] against their communities [to the effect] that they delivered [their messages from God].

For the Day of Decision, for creatures (from this one may infer the response to [the clauses beginning with] idhā, ‘when’, in other words, ‘[when …], the decision will be made for [all] creatures’).

And how would you know what the Day of Decision is? — emphasising the enormity of its terror.

Woe to the deniers on that day! — a threat of chastisement for them.

Did We not destroy the ancients, for their denial, in other words, We certainly destroyed them,

then made the latter folk follow them?, [the latter folk] of those who denied, such as the disbelievers of Mecca, whom We will destroy.

So, just as We dealt with those who denied, will We deal with the guilty, with every individual who will be guilty in the future, and destroy them.

Woe to the deniers on that day! — [reiterated] for emphasis.

Did We not create you from a base fluid, one that is delicate — and this is semen,

then lodged it in a secure abode, that is, the womb,

for a known span?, namely, the time for delivery.

Thus We were able, to do this; so [how] excellent able ones We are!

Woe to the deniers on that day!

Have We not made the earth a receptacle (kifātan is a verbal noun, from kafata, meaning damma, ‘enclosed’), that is, an enclosure,

for the living, on its surface, and the dead, inside it,

and set therein soaring mountains and give you sweet water to drink?

Woe to the deniers on that day!

And on the Day of Resurrection it will be said to the deniers: Depart to that, chastisement, which you used to deny!

Depart to a triple-forked shadow — this is the smoke of Hell, which, as it rises, splits into three parts because of its magnitude —

which is neither shady, [neither] protective, [unable] to shade them from the heat of that Day, nor of any avail against, [nor] wards off from them anything of, the flame, the Fire.

Indeed it, that is, the Fire, throws up sparks, namely, those [flame] that are thrown by it into the air, [huge] like palace edifices, in terms of their enormity and vertical extension,

as if they were [dark] yellow camels (jimālātun is the plural of jimalatun, the plural of jamalun; a variant reading has jimālatun), in terms of their shape and colour. In hadīth [it is stated], ‘The sparks of humans [thrown into the air by the Fire] are black as pitch (qīr)’; the Arabs call dark camels sufr, ‘yellow’, because a touch of yellow is mixed with their blackish colour, and therefore it is said that ‘yellow’ in this verse [actually] means ‘black’, on account of what has been mentioned; but some say no [to this interpretation]; (sharar is the plural of sharāra; qīr is qār, ‘pitch’).

Woe to the deniers on that day!

This, namely, the Day of Resurrection, is the day in which they will not utter, anything,

nor will they be given permission, to offer excuses, and so offer excuses (fa-ya‘tadhirūna is a supplement to yu’dhanu, ‘given permission’, but without being a direct result of it, since it belongs within the confines of the [general] denial [of permission], in other words, ‘there will be no permission, hence no excuses’).

Woe to the deniers on that day!

‘This is the Day of Decision. We have brought you, O deniers from this community, and the ancients together, [the ancients] from among the deniers before you, so that you will [all] be reckoned with and chastised together;

So if you have any stratagems, any ploy to ward off your chastisement, try your strategems against Me!’ — put them into effect!

Woe to the deniers on that day!

Truly the God-fearing will be amid shades, that is, amid clusters of trees, since there is no sun therein from whose heat to seek shade, and springs, issuing forth with water,

and fruits such as they desire: this is meant to point out that eating and drinking in Paradise is [done] according to their desires, in contrast to [the case in] this world, where it is predominantly determined by what people are able to procure. It will also be said to them:

‘Eat and drink in [full] enjoyment (hanī’an is a circumstantial qualifier, in other words, mutahanni’īna) for what you used to do’, in the way of obedience.

Indeed so, in the same way that We reward the God-fearing, do We reward the virtuous.

Woe to the deniers on that day!

‘Eat and enjoy — addressing the disbelievers in this world — for a little, time, at the end of which comes death — this is meant as a threat for them. Indeed you are guilty!’

Woe to the deniers on that day!

For when it is said to them, ‘Bow down!’, perform prayer, they do not bow down, they do not perform prayer.

Woe to the deniers on that day!

In what discourse, then, after this, namely, the Qur’ān, will they believe? In other words, they cannot believe in any other of God’s Scriptures after having denied this [Qur’ān], since it comprises that inimitability (i‘jāz) which none of the others do.