91al-ShamsThe Sunسُورَةُ الشمس

By the Sun and its radiant brightness,

And the Moon as it comes next [within Allah’s configuration of the Solar System],

And the day as it makes [the world] visible,

And the night as it inundates it [the world] with darkness!

And by the sky and what went into constructing it,

And the earth and what went into ground- ing it!

And by the living self and what went into equalizing it,

And how [He] infused it with its [tendency for] provocative violation [of Allah’s power and authority], and its [tendency to] avoid [a clash with Allah’s power and authority]!

Successful is the one who cultivates [and improves] it [his living self],

And frustrated is the one who stifles [the potential of the betterment of his] living self.

[The society of] Thamūd contravened [this fact] due to its concentration and abuse of power,

Just as its most sinister individual [of that society] made his debut —

So Allah’s messenger told them, “It is Allah’s [designated] she-camel [— do not harm her]! She has a [divinely] allocated time to drink.”

And so they [the society of Thamūd] nonetheless went against him, and so they crippled and killed it — and so their Sustainer destroyed them due to their vice-crime:

And he [Thamūd’s most sinister individual] had no compunction about the consequence of his act.