Surah-85
CONSIDER the sky full of great constellations,
and [then bethink thyself of] the promised Day,
and [of] Him who witnesses [all], and [of] that unto which witness is borne [by Him]!
THEY DESTROY [but] themselves, they who would ready a pit
of fire fiercely burning [for all who have attained to faith]!
Lo! [With glee do] they contemplate that [fire],
fully conscious of what they are doing to the believers,
whom they hate for no other reason than that they believe in God, the Almighty, the One to whom all praise is due,
[and] to whom the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs. But God is witness unto everything!
Verily, as for those who persecute believing men and believing women, and thereafter do not repent, hell's suffering awaits them: yea, suffering through fire awaits them!
[But,] verily, they who attain to faith and do righteous deeds shall [in the life to come] have gardens through which running waters flow - that triumph most great!
VERILY, thy Sustainer's grip is exceedingly strong!
Behold, it is He who creates [man] in the first instance, and He [it is who] will bring him forth anew.
And He alone is truly-forgiving, all-embracing in His love,
in sublime almightiness enthroned,
a sovereign doer of whatever He wills.
HAS IT ever come within thy ken, the story of the [sinful] hosts
of Pharaoh, and of [the tribe of] Thamud?
And yet, they who are bent on denying the truth persist in giving it the lie:
but all the while God encompasses them [with His knowledge and might] without their being aware of it.
Nay, but this [divine writ which they reject] is a discourse sublime,
upon an imperishable tablet [inscribed].
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Leviticus 19:18
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Dhammapada 10:1
“All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.”
Impermanence & Letting Go
Dhammapada 20:277
“All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”
Tao Te Ching 76
“A man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff. The soft and yielding is the disciple of life.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Bhagavad Gita 2:22
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”
The Path to Wisdom
Proverbs 4:7
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
Dhammapada 20:282
“Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes.”
Analects 2:11
“If you study the past and use it to understand the present, you are worthy of being a teacher.”
Tao Te Ching 33
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”