This is the Day whereon the earth shall tell out her tidings.  The workers of iniquity are her burdens, could ye but perceive it.  The moon of idle fancy hath been cleft, and the heaven hath given out a palpable smoke.  We see the people laid low, awed with the dread of thy Lord, the Almighty, the Most Powerful.  The Crier hath cried out, and men have been torn away, so great hath been the fury of His wrath.  The people of the left hand sigh and bemoan.  The people of the right abide in noble habitations:  they quaff the Wine that is life indeed, from the hands of the All-Merciful, and are, verily, the blissful.

The earth hath been shaken, and the mountains have passed away, and the angels have appeared, rank on rank, before Us.  Most of the people are bewildered in their drunkenness and wear on their faces the evidences of anger.  Thus have We gathered together the workers of iniquity.  We see them rushing on towards their idol.  Say:  None shall be secure this Day from the decree of God.  This indeed is a grievous Day.  We point out to them those that led them astray.  They see them, and yet recognize them not.  Their eyes are drunken; they are indeed a blind people.  Their proofs are the calumnies they uttered; condemned are their calumnies by God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.  The Evil One hath stirred up mischief in their hearts, and they are afflicted with a torment that none can avert.  They hasten to the wicked, bearing the register of the workers of iniquity.  Such are their doings.

Say:  The heavens have been folded together, and the earth is held within His grasp, and the corrupt doers have been held by their forelock, and still they understand not.  They drink of the tainted water, and know it not.  Say:  The shout hath been raised, and the people have come forth from their graves, and arising are gazing around them.  Some have made haste to attain the court of the God of Mercy, others have fallen down on their faces in the fire of Hell, while still others are lost in bewilderment.  The verses of God have been revealed, and yet they have turned away from them.  His proof hath been manifested and yet they are unaware of it.  And when they behold the face of the All-Merciful, their own faces are saddened, while they are disporting themselves.  They hasten forward to Hell Fire, and mistake it for light.  Far from God be what they fondly imagine!  Say:  Whether ye rejoice or whether ye burst for fury, the heavens are cleft asunder, and God hath come down, invested with radiant sovereignty.  All created things are heard exclaiming:  ’The Kingdom is God’s, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.’

“O concourse of Persian divines!  In My name ye have...”

O concourse of Persian divines!  In My name ye have seized the reins of men, and occupy the seats of honour by reason of your relation to Me.  When I revealed Myself, however, ye turned aside, and committed what hath caused the tears of such as have recognized Me to flow.  Erelong will all that ye possess perish, and your glory be turned into the most wretched abasement, and ye shall behold the punishment for what ye have wrought, as decreed by God, the Ordainer, the All-Wise.