36Yā-SīnY-Sسُورَةُ يس

Yā-Sīn [Y-S].

[Avowing] by this Qur’an of wisdom:

Emphatically, you [O Muhammad] are one of the [divine] emissaries,

[Well entrenched] on a straight course.

[Be confident that] the Qur’an is made accessible by the Lordly, the Very Merciful,

So that you can alert people whose ancestors had not been alerted and who therefore are unmindful [of the facts you present them].

Surely, the judgement of truth and justice has come due upon most of them as they do not dedicate themselves [to Allah].

Behold, We have unquestionably put a chokehold around their necks stretching up to their chins so that their heads are forced upward;

And We have positioned a barrier in front of them and a barrier behind them, and We have blindfolded them and therefore they cannot see;

Thus, to them it is the same: whether you alert them or whether you do not alert them, they are not going to pledge themselves [to Allah’s authority and power].

You, in fact, can warn only the one who is inclined to follow through on his consciousness [of Allah] and stands in awe of the Mercy-Giver even though there is [a world] of unknowns [he lives through]: this is the one to whom you [O Muhammad] are to break the good news of [Allah’s] forgiveness and a fulfilling reward.

Indeed, it is We who revive the deceased and We record whatever [deed] that precedes them [to the Day of Accountability] and their traces [of activities]: and We have tallied everything [they said and did] in a completely transparent account.

And put across to them [the Arabians] an analogy — [the story of how] the people of an urban center [conducted themselves] when [Our] divinely commissioned emissaries came to them.

Lo and behold! We dispatched to them two [assigned emissaries] and they accused the two of lying; and then We sent a third in support [of the two] whereupon they all declared, “Of a certainty, we have been sent to you [by our Sustainer]!”

[The townspeople] answered, “You are nothing but mortal beings just like us, and the Mercy-Giver has not offered [anyone] anything [by way of revelation]; so, what you are saying is nothing but lies.

Said [the emissaries in reply], “Our Sustainer knows that we are indeed sent to you,

“And we are responsible for nothing except to express a well-defined message [that we have been assigned].”

Said [the townsfolks], “We are definitely pessimistic [and cynical] concerning you [and your message]. If you do not cease we will, without doubt, throw stones at you, and grievous suffering will be inflicted upon you by us!”

They [the emissaries] replied, “Your cynicism and suspicion is yours [as a matter of your God-given freedom]! Even as you are made aware [of what you are doing, you still pursue your God-denying ways]! Rather, you are wasteful people!”

[In this context] an [unknown] man came from the farthest end of the city, [and] called out, “O my people! Follow the divinely dispatched emissaries!

“Follow those who do not ask you for a price [for their service] and they themselves are justifiably guided!2

“[As for me], why should I not comply with He who sprouted me [into life] and to whom all of you will be returning?

“Should I choose other deities/authorities inferior to Him [in exclusion to Him]? [But then], if the Mercy-Giver wills it for me to encounter harm, [those] other [improvised] deities/authorities will have no power of intervention that will be sufficient for me, nor could they save me:

“And so I would have, most certainly, evidently lost my way!

“Verily, [O my people], I declare my commitment to your Sustainer: listen, then, to what I have said!”

It was announced, “Go ahead and enter Paradise!” — [at which point] he exclaimed, “O how I wish my people would have known [what I have attained],

“Due to my Sustainer forgiving me [my indiscretions] and including me among [His] honorees!”

And after him We did not send down against his people any hosts from heaven and why should We:

For, it only took one single blast [of our retribution] whereupon they [the contrarian kāfirs] were all as dead as ashes.

Pity [such] subjects [of Allah]! [For] every time an apostle comes to them they make fun of him.

Have they not seen how many generations We impaired in times before them and that those who perished will never return to them [after death to tell them what really happened],

And [that] all of them [ancestors and descendants] will all together be summoned to Us?

And they have [another] demonstration of [Our] power and authority in the lifeless terrain that We bring to life, and out of which We produce grains, from which they eat;

And We placed therein orchards of date- palms and vines [of bounteous yield] and We burst forth springs [of water] within it,

So that they may eat of its outgrowths and whatever else their hands labored [to produce]. Will they not, [after all this], be thankful?

Uniquely exceptional is He in His glory who has created all corresponding contrasts from what the earth sprouts and from their own selves and from what they do not know [as of yet or perhaps never].

And they have another illustration [of Allah’s power and authority] in the night, from which We draw out light of day — and, lo and behold, they are in the dark;

And [they have another illustration in] the Sun that is running a course until it comes to a halt — all that is the calculation of the Majestic, the All-Knowing;

And [in] the Moon, for which We have determined phases [rotations in which it must orbit] until it becomes slight and curvilinear:

Neither can the Sun gain on the Moon, nor can the night outpace the day: for all are drifting in orbit [as We arranged them].

And [another] illustration [of Our power and authority] presented to them is that, indeed, We carried their posterity upon loaded vessels [over the seas],

And [that] We created for them [crafts] for similar purposes, for them to embark upon [in their travels];

And if We decree [We are able] to drown them with no one to answer their call for help and no one to rescue them,

Except if it be an expression of mercy from Us and an allowance of life for a [further span of] time.

And whenever they [the kāfirs] are told, “Avoid the [divinely stated consequences] of that which has been demonstrated in times past and [the potential of them occurring] in times to come, so that you will be graced by His mercy,” [they mock the warner],

And there is no illustration of their Sustainer’s demonstrations [of power and authority] that comes to them except that they turn the other way [as if they do not care].

And when they are told, “Spend out of what Allah has provided you as sustenance [upon the needy and the hungry],” those who are averse [to Allah] say to the committed muslims, “Do you want us to feed someone whom, had Allah willed it, He would have fed him [Himself]? Obviously, you are in manifest deviance!”

And they add, “When will this promise [of the Final Day] happen, if you are telling the truth?”

[To their surprise] it will be only one blast [of Allah’s corrective power], which will catch them off guard while they are still arguing [against resurrection]:

And [so abruptly will all this happen that] there will be [no time for them to make out their] inheritance will, nor will they even be able to return to their own folks.

And then the trumpet [of resurrection] will be blown, and — lo and behold! — they will emerge out of their graves, hurrying toward their Sustainer!

They will say, “Woe to us! Who has aroused us out of our resting place?” [At which point it will be time for them to know, and so they will be told], “This is what the Mercy-Giver has promised and the apostles were right [they said the truth].”

It took nothing more than one single [thunderous] blast and now they — all together — are present [in Allah’s company],

[Where they will be told], “Today, no living being will be dealt a tad of injustice and you will not be compensated except for what you did [when you were back in the world].

“Verily, the teammates of Paradise today are busy being happy as a result of what they did [back in the world]:

“They and their spouses [are] in the shades, reclining on couches [enjoying themselves];

“For them there are fruits [and delights to be had] and all that they may ask for;

“[And], ‘Peace,’ expressed [to them] by a very merciful Sustainer.

“Step forward and be identified O you criminals!

“Did I not entrust you, the children of Adam, not to abide by Satan — since, he is, indeed, your obvious [and avowed] enemy —

“And that you should act in accordance with Me? This would have been the straight course [of conviction and action].

“And he [Satan] has led many of you who habitually follow the crowd [off that straight course]: did you not discipline yourselves with your thoughts [about this matter]?

“This, then, is the Hell that was foreboded to you:

“Endure it today as a result of your kufr [and whatever it entailed].”

Today We shall seal shut their mouths, after which We will be addressed by their hands, and their feet will bear witness as to what they earned [when they were back in the world].”

Had We willed [that people should be forever lost], We could certainly have rubbed out their eyesight [rendering them unable to see] so that they would abidingly scrabble away from the straight path: [that being the case] how else could they have gained insight [into what the true direction in life is]?

And had We willed it, We could surely have caused them to experience an evolution in reverse, becoming immobile [and incapable of moving to the straight course], and thus neither being able to move ahead, nor to turn around.

But [as it is, they should be mindful that] if We extend someone’s lifespan [into debilitating old age] We also cause his vital potential to deteriorate: will they, then, not reason [discipline their behavior with their relevant thoughts]?

And We never imparted to him [Muhammad, the art of] poetry nor would it behoove him to pursue it: it [the Qur’an] is a consciousness [in the hearts and minds of committed muslims] and a divinely declared discourse, clear and comprehensible,

So that he [the Prophet] may warn whoever is alive [at heart] and so that the word of truth and justice may come due against the kāfirs.

Have they not seen that it is for them We created, from the work of Our own hands, task cattle, which they have come to possess,

And that We subdued them [the cattle and domestic animals] so that some of them they may ride, and some of them they may eat,

And [from some of them] they may procure [yet other] benefits and drinks? Can they not, then, be thankful?

But [in the way kāfirs behave] they designated to the exclusion of Allah other gods hoping to be triumphant;

They [the multiple god-figureheads they have] are not able to offer them triumph, even as these [kāfirs] are the troops poised [for the service of such false gods].

[Therefore], do not be saddened by what they say. Indeed, We do know what they deem secret and what they express in public.

Can a social being not see that it is We who created him out of spermatozoa and then, all of a sudden, [in his absentmindedness] he becomes an enemy [of his own self]?

And [now] he [this wayward social being] coins a line of reasoning about Us forgetting that We created him, saying, “Who is it that will bring bones back to life when they are residues?”

Say [O Muhammad], “The One who initiated [life into] them [the bones] the first time will revive them, seeing that He is aware of all [details of] creation;

“He is the one who rendered for you out of green trees [the utility of] combustion that you use as fuel.”

Is He who created the heavens and the earth not capable of creating [anew] their likenesses [after they have died]? Of course [He is capable]: for He alone is the all-knowing, resourceful Creator.

His affair is such that when He alone decides on something, He but says to it, “Be” — and it becomes.

Uniquely praised, then, is He in whose hands are the absolute dominion of all things and to whom you will return.