The Sun (Al-Shams)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
CONSIDER the sun and its radiant brightness, 1 and the moon as it reflects the sun! 2 The day when it reveals his radiance, 3 And the night when it enshroudeth him, 4 The heavens and its architecture, 5 And by the earth and Him Who spread it, 6 And by oath of the soul and by oath of Him Who made it proper. 7 Then He inspired it to understand what is right and wrong for it; 8 To a happy state shall indeed attain he who causes this [self] to grow in purity, 9 and he who suppresses it will be ruined. 10 The Thamud (people) rejected (their prophet) through their inordinate wrong-doing, 11 when the most wicked man among them rose up. 12 And the apostle of God had to tell them: "This is God's she-camel, let her drink." 13 But they gave him the lie, and hamstrung the she-camel. So their Lord destroyed them for their crime and razed their city to the ground. 14 for none [of them] had any fear of what might befall them. 15