Dawn (Al-Fajr)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
By the dawn; 1 By the ten nights (i.e. the first ten days of the month of Dhul-Hijjah). 2 by the even and the odd, 3 And [by] the night when it passes, 4 Is there in this an oath for one endowed with understanding? 5 Seest thou not how thy Lord dealt with the 'Ad (people),- 6 Of Eram with lofty pillars (erected as signposts in the desert), 7 the like of which has never been created in the land, 8 And how did He deal with Thamud who hewed out rocks in the valley? 9 And the mighty Pharaoh 10 Who committed inordinacy in the cities, 11 spreading in them much corruption? 12 Therefore did thy Lord pour on them a scourge of diverse chastisements: 13 for, indeed, your Sustainer is ever on the watch! 14 As for man, when his Lord tests him by exalting him and bestowing His bounties upon him, he says: “My Lord has exalted me.” 15 But when He tries him (differently), then straitens to him his means of subsistence, he says: My Lord has disgraced me. 16 Nay! But you treat not the orphans with kindness and generosity (i.e. you neither treat them well, nor give them their exact right of inheritance)! 17 and you urge not the feeding of the needy, 18 and you devour the inheritance [of others] with devouring greed, 19 and you have a love of wealth which can never be satisfied. 20 Nay, but [how will you fare on Judgment Day,] when the earth is crushed with crushing upon crushing, 21 And thy Lord shall come with angels, rank on rank, 22 And Hell will be brought near that Day. On that Day will man remember, but how will that remembrance (then) avail him? 23 He will say: "Oh, would that I had provided beforehand for my life [to come]!" 24 Upon that day none shall chastise as He chastises, 25 and Allah will bind as none other can bind. 26 Serene soul, 27 Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], 28 Enter thou among My bondmen! 29 Enter My Paradise." 30