AL INFITAR (The Cleaving Apart)
In the Name of God,1 the Gracious, the Merciful 2
1 When the sky is torn open;
2 When the stars are scattered;
3 When the oceans are suffered to burst forth;
4 And when the graves are turned upside down;
5 Each soul shall know what it has sent forward and kept back.
6 O man! What has seduced you from your Lord most beneficent?
7 Him who created you, fashioned you in due proportion, and gave you a just bias;
8 In whatever form he wills, does he put you together.
9 No! But you reject right and judgment!
10 But truly over you are those who watch,
11 Kind and honourable, writing things down:
12 They know all that you do.
13 As for the righteous, they will be in bliss;
14 And the wicked they will be in the fire,
15 Which they will enter on the day of judgment,
16 And they will not be able to keep away from it.
17 And what will explain to you the day of judgment?
18 Again, what will explain to you the day of judgment?
19 It is the day when no soul shall have power to do anything for another: for the last word, that day, will be with God.
- God, in Arabic allah, referring to the one true God, as opposed to an idol or “god.” It is the Arabic equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew), alaha (Syriac), and theos (Greek), all of which accurately translate into English as “God.” This translation choice is consistent with respected English Quran translations including those of A. Yusuf Ali (original edition), S.H. Nasr (Study Quran), T.B. Irving, and T. Itani (Clear Quran). ↩︎
- the Gracious, the Merciful, the highlighting of God’s grace and mercy predates the Quran, coming down from the many hundreds of references in the Taurat, Zabur, and Injil. A few samples follow:
Taurat, Exodus 34:6 — …YAHWEH, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
Zabur 145:8 — YAHWEH is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
Taurat, Joel 2:13 — Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to YAHWEH your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
Taurat, Yunus 4:2 — …I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.”
Injil, 1 Timothy 1:2 — …Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and AL-MASIH ‘ISA our Lord.
Injil, Hebrews 4:16 — Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need. ↩︎