Considering all this - could there be, to anyone endowed with reason, a [more] solemn evidence of the truth?
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ART THOU NOT aware of how thy Sustainer has dealt with [the tribe of] ‘Ad,
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[the people of] Iram the many-pillared,
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the like of whom has never been reared in all the land? –
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and with [the tribe of] Thamud, who hollowed out rocks in the valley? –
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and with Pharaoh of the [many] tent-poles?
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[It was they] who transgressed all bounds of equity all over their lands,
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and brought about great corruption therein:
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and therefore thy Sustainer let loose upon them a scourge of suffering:
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for, verily, thy Sustainer is ever on the watch!
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BUT AS FOR man, whenever his Sustainer tries him by His generosity and by letting him enjoy a life of ease, he says, "My Sustainer has been [justly] generous towards me";
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whereas, whenever He tries him by straitening his means of livelihood, he says, "My Sustainer has disgraced me!"
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But nay, nay, [O men, consider all that you do and fail to do:] you are not generous towards the orphan,
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and you do not urge one another to feed the needy,
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and you devour the inheritance [of others] with devouring greed,
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and you love wealth with boundless love!
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Nay, but [how will you fare on Judgment Day,] when the earth is crushed with crushing upon crushing,
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and [the majesty of] thy Sustainer stands revealed, as well as [the true nature of] the angels; rank upon rank?
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And on that Day hell will be brought [within sight]; on that Day man will remember [all that he did and failed to do]: but what will that remembrance avail him?
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He will say, "Oh, would that I had. provided beforehand for my life [to come]!"
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For, none can make suffer as He will make suffer [the sinners] on that Day,
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and none can bind with bonds like His.
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[But unto the righteous God will say, ] "O thou human being that hast attained to inner peace!