The Rangers 37

By those who set the ranks in battle order

And those who drive away (the wicked) with reproof

And those who read (the Word) for a reminder,

Lord of the heavens and of the earth and all that is between them, and Lord of the sun's risings.

Lo! We have adorned the lowest heaven with an ornament, the planets;

They cannot listen to the Highest Chiefs for they are pelted from every side,

Outcast, and theirs is a perpetual torment;

Save him who snatcheth a fragment, and there pursueth him a piercing flame.

Then ask them (O Muhammad): Are they stronger as a creation, or those (others) whom we have created? Lo! We created them of plastic clay.

Nay, but thou dost marvel when they mock

And seek to scoff when they behold a portent.

When we are dead and have become dust and bones, shall we then, forsooth, be raised (again)?

Say (O Muhammad): Ye, in truth; and ye will be brought low.

There is but one Shout, and lo! they behold,

And say: Ah, woe for us! This is the Day of Judgment.

This is the Day of Separation, which ye used to deny.

(And it is said unto the angels): Assemble those who did wrong, together with their wives and what they used to worship

Instead of Allah, and lead them to the path to hell;

And stop them, for they must be questioned.

What aileth you that ye help not one another?

Nay, but this day they make full submission.

And some of them draw near unto others, mutually questioning.

They say: Lo! ye used to come unto us, imposing, (swearing that ye spoke the truth).

They answer: Nay, but ye (yourselves) were not believers.

We had no power over you, but ye were wayward folk.

Now the Word of our Lord hath been fulfilled concerning us. Lo! we are about to taste (the doom).

Thus we misled you. Lo! we were (ourselves) astray.

Then lo! this day they (both) are sharers in the doom.

For when it was said unto them, There is no God save Allah, they were scornful

And said: Shall we forsake our gods for a mad poet?

Nay, but he brought the Truth, and he confirmed those sent (before him).

Lo! (now) verily ye taste the painful doom -

Ye are requited naught save what ye did -

A cup from a gushing spring is brought round for them,

Wherein there is no headache nor are they made mad thereby.

And with them are those of modest gaze, with lovely eyes,

(Pure) as they were hidden eggs (of the ostrich).

And some of them draw near unto others, mutually questioning.

A speaker of them saith: Lo! I had a comrade

Who used to say: Art thou in truth of those who put faith (in his words)?

Can we, when we are dead and have become mere dust and bones - can we (then) verily be brought to book?

Then looketh he and seeth him in the depth of hell.

He saith: By Allah, thou verily didst all but cause my ruin,

And had it not been for the favour of my Lord, I too had been of those haled forth (to doom).

Saving our former death, and are we not to be punished?

For the like of this, then, let the workers work.

Is this better as a welcome, or the tree of Zaqqum?

Lo! We have appointed it a torment for wrong-doers.

Lo! it is a tree that springeth in the heart of hell.

Its crop is as it were the heads of devils

And lo! they verily must eat thereof, and fill (their) bellies therewith.

And afterward, lo! thereupon they have a drink of boiling water

And afterward, lo! their return is surely unto hell.

But they make haste (to follow) in their footsteps.

And verily most of the men of old went astray before them,

Then see the nature of the consequence for those warned,

And Noah verily prayed unto Us, and gracious was the Hearer of his prayer

And We saved him and his household from the great distress,

And left for him among the later folk (the salutation):

And lo! of his persuasion verily was Abraham