Thamūd
كَذَّبَت ثَمودُ المُرسَلينَ
The Thamūd rejected the Messengers
Qur'an 26:141
In desert where solitary rocks
Are singing long and plangent song,
As if the wind doth blow in horn
Of eternity... They croon
The chant of argent moon.
In oblivion, alone
Dreams Qasr al-Farid - the ancient tomb,
Wrought in a lonely cliff -
This monument of grief.
He sings his song -
The leading voice in choir of the stones
Of Mada'in Saleh - the valley of the fallow sand, -
The sadness 'mid the desert wan.
And mounds of sand
Like waves they sink and swell,
And flow, then swell again...
Resounds sullen melody -
The bell doth ring a threnody,
Its echo flies over the waste
Repeating, "Woe to those expelling Saints!
Their destiny will be but graves."
Abandoned place, forsaken and lost -
The valley of howling ghosts -
Grey shadows - they loiter at night,
Despondent - they screem at moonlight,
Forever forgotten and cursed.
كَأَن لَم يَغنَوا فيها
أَلا إِنَّ ثَمودَ كَفَروا رَبَّهُم
As though they had never lived
at ease therein. Lo! Thamūd
defied their Lord.
Qur'an 11:68
The broken vessels in the waste
Of melancholy keep memory of days,
When here was joy and feast and life,
And wealth that kindles pride.
They bathed in streams of luxury and vaunt,
At others glancing with disdain and scorn.
Their idols were but themselves -
The cult of chieftain and his sentinels.
Vain desires... and self-praise -
But where are they?
Only grey tombs in the bay...
Sunken hulls and remains
Of broken galleys...
Alone, alone among the grief
Abandoned tower drifts, and wind
Of mourning blows...
And tolls the bell, and tolls...
وَإِلىٰ ثَمودَ أَخاهُم صالِحًا
قالَ يا قَومِ اعبُدُوا اللَّهَ ما لَكُم
مِن إِلٰهٍ غَيرُهُ هُوَ أَنشَأَكُم مِنَ الأَرضِ
وَاستَعمَرَكُم فيها فَاستَغفِروهُ ثُمَّ توبوا
إِلَيهِ إِنَّ رَبّي قَريبٌ مُجيبٌ
And unto Thamūd We sent their brother
Sālih. He said: O my people! worship God;
there is no god for you but He.
He hath brought you forth from the earth,
and hath made you dwell therein.
Wherefore ask forgiveness of Him,
then repent toward Him;
verily my Lord is Nigh, Responsive.
Qur'an 11:61
And crimson clouds have reft the sun;
In storm of ire grumbles the drum
Of thunder and bolts,
And arrows fall
Of sleet and vehement hail;
And night overshadows the day.
And they... the people of Thamūd -
They revel, and care not of gloom.
They say, "Oh, 'tis a temporal occasion,
No need to abrogate the celebration."
For they are blind and do not see
The gape of doom beneath their feet.
Then raised the Saint - a messenger of God;
He mounted his voice on high to be heard;
His eyes were glittering as lighting at night;
His words were fire from the sky.
"Beware, beware, repent and return,
Ere ye to be overturned!
O ye, durst to withstand the God,
In three days you shall know the might of the Lord!"
They ignored... with jests and gibes
Had expelled him from their tribe.
فَانظُر كَيفَ كانَ عاقِبَةُ المُكَذِّبينَ
Behold, then how hath been the end
of the deniers.
Qur'an 43:25
Hosts are arranged and prepared for the fight,
On blazing steeds the knights of the night,
Strong as a storm and swift as a wind
Of rabit tempest - the ghosts of unseen.
Clashes tambour - each strike is thunder,
Serpents of lightning cut sky asunder.
Sounds a trumpet awaking the gale,
Sands of the desert upheave in a wave;
Is rolling and rolling this billow of rage -
Thus dasheth a chariot through the battlefield,
Armed with frenetic sword in each wheel.
Angel of tempest leadeth the host
Unto the land foredoomed and lost.
أَلا بُعدًا لِثَمودَ
Look! Away with Thamūd.
Qur'an 11:68
Three days had gone,
The lightning siezed them,
They all were done.
August 2016
Qur'an translation: Abdul Daryabadi
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