The Sun (Al-Shams)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
I CALL TO witness the sun and his early morning splendour, 1 And [by] the moon when it follows it 2 By the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory; 3 and by the night as it envelopes the sun; 4 By the heaven and Who built it, 5 And [by] the earth and He who spread it 6 and by the soul and by Him Who perfectly proportioned it, 7 and how it is imbued with moral failings as well as with consciousness of God! 8 To a happy state shall indeed attain he who causes this [self] to grow in purity, 9 And he who confines it will surely come to grief. 10 TO [THIS] TRUTH gave the lie, in their overweening arrogance, [the tribe of] Thamud, 11 when their arch-criminal rose up in rage. 12 although God's apostle had told them, "It is a she-camel belonging to God, so let her drink [and do her no harm]!" 13 Then they rejected him (as a false prophet), and they hamstrung her. So their Lord, on account of their crime, obliterated their traces and made them equal (in destruction, high and low)! 14 And for Him is no fear of its consequences. 15