Men of Today and Yesterday - A Summary

If one wishes to speak to one's Lord, one prays to Him and if one wishes to hear one's Lord, Quran speaks out and so vividly it does so that a heart which has even one tiny shred of Emaan softens, and wishes to do nothing else but submit to the All Merciful, All Forgiving.

I happened to re-read Surah Al Fajr and it has become my third favourite Surah after Surah Ikhlaas and Surah Al Asr. It is as succinct and wholesome as a summary can get, a summary of what Man has done on Earth and what Man shall get right at the end - each one, his due share.

Here is the translation of Surah 89: Al Fajr by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. I typed it out from my own copy of Quran, so there is no error.

By the Dawn

By the ten Nights

By the Even and Odd (contrasted)

And by the Night when it passeth away;-

Is there (not) in these an adjuration (or evidence) for those who understand?

Seest thou not how thy Lord dealth with the ‘Ad (people). –

Of the (city of) Iram, with lofty pillars

The like of which were not produced in (all) the land?

And with the Thamud (people) who cut out (huge) rocks in the valley? –

And with Pharoah, lord of Stakes?

(All) these transgressed beyond bounds in the lands.

And heaped therein mischief (on mischief).

Therefore did thy Lord pour on them a scourge of diverse chastisements:

For thy Lord is watchful.

Now, as for man, when his Lord trieth him, giving him honour and gifts, then saith he, (puffed up), “My Lord hath honoured me.”

But when He trieth him, restricting his subsistence from him, then saith he (in despair), “My Lord hath humiliated me!”

Nay, nay! But ye honour not the orphans!

Nor do ye encourage one another to feed the poor! –

And thy Lord cometh, and His angels, rank upon rank,

And Hell, - that Day, is brought (face to face), on that Day will man remember, but how will that remembrance profit him?

He will say: “Ah! Would that I had sent forth (Good Deeds) for (this) my (Future) Life!”

For, that Day His Chastisement will be such as none else can inflict,

And His bonds will be such as none (other) can bind.

(To the righteous soul will be said:) “O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction!

“Come back thou to thy Lord, - well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him!

“Enter thou, then, among My Devotees!

“Yea, enter thou My Heaven!”