Meccan, consisting of 23 or 25 verses.

When the heaven is rent asunder,

and heeds, gives ear to and, in rending itself asunder, obeys, its Lord as it should, that is, as its duty is to heed and obey,

and when the earth is stretched out, [when] its width is increased, just as a piece of leather is stretched, so that no edifice or mountain remains upon it,

and casts out all that is in it, of the dead, onto its surface, and empties itself, thereof,

and heeds, [and] in this respect, gives ear to and obeys, its Lord, as it should: all of this will be on the Day of Resurrection (the response to idhā, ‘when’, and [to] all that is supplemented thereto, has been omitted; but it is indicated by what follows it, and is implied to be [something like] laqiya’l-insānu ‘amalahu, ‘man will encounter his deeds’).

O man! Verily you are labouring, exerting your efforts, toward, the encounter with, your Lord, that is, death, laboriously, and you will encounter it, that is, you will encounter your mentioned good or evil deeds on the Day of Resurrection.

Then as for him who is given his book, the record of his deeds, in his right hand — and this is the believer —

he will receive an easy reckoning, which [simply] entails the presentation of his deeds to him, as in the hadīth of the two Sahīhs [of Bukhārī and Muslim] — in which there is also [a hadīth saying], ‘He who is reckoned with at length, will be destined for perdition’ — and after this presentation [of his deeds to the believer] he will be excused,

and return to his family, in Paradise, joyful, because of it.

But as for him who is given his book from behind his back — and this is the disbeliever, whose right hand is chained to his neck and whose left hand, by which he is given the book, is placed behind his back,

he will pray, upon seeing what is in it, for annihilation, he will invoke destruction against himself by saying: yā thabūrāh, ‘O annihilation [of mine]!’,

and he will enter the Blaze, an intense fire (a variant reading [for yaslā, ‘he will enter’] has yusallā, ‘he will be admitted’).

Indeed among his folk, his clan, in the world, he used to be joyful, wanton, lusting after his desires;

indeed he thought that (an: softened in place of the hardened form, with its subject omitted, that is to say, annahu) he would never return, to his Lord.

Nay!, he will return to Him; indeed his Lord is ever Seer of him, knowing that he would return to Him.

So I swear (fa-lā: lā is extra) by the twilight (al-shafaq), the reddishness visible in the horizon after the sunset,

and [by] the night and what it envelops, [what] it brings together of creatures and otherwise that have entered into it,

and [by] the moon when it is at the full, and its light is complete, and this happens during the nights of the full moon:

you will surely journey (tarkabunna is actually tarkabūnanna, but the nūn of the indicative has been omitted because of two identical letters following one another, and the wāw [is omitted] because of two unvocalised consonants coming together), from stage to stage, state after state, namely, death, then life, then what comes afterwards of the states at the Resurrection.

So what is wrong with them, that is, the disbelievers, that they do not have faith, that is to say, what is there to prevent them from [embracing] faith; or what argument do they have for neglecting it despite the existence of proofs for it,

and, what is wrong with them, that when the Qur’ān is recited to them they do not prostrate?, they [do not] submit by believing in it, given its inimitability?

Nay, but the disbelievers deny, resurrection and other matters,

and God knows best what they are amassing, accumulating in their scrolls, in the way of disbelief, denial and evil deeds.

So give them good tidings, inform them, of a painful chastisement,

except those who believe and perform righteous deeds: theirs will be an unfailing reward, one that is unending, undiminished and not given to them in expectance of anything in return.