Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran. An Explanatory Translation (1930)

28. Even so (it was), and We made it an inheritance for other folk;

29. And the heaven and the earth wept not for them, nor were they reprieved.

30. And We delivered the Children of Israel from the shameful doom;

31. (We delivered them) from Pharaoh. Lo! he was a tyrant of the wanton ones.

32. And We chose them, purposely, above (all) creatures.

33. And We gave them portents wherein was a clear trial.

34. Lo! these, forsooth, are saying:

35. There is naught but our first death, and we shall not be raised again. 36. Bring back our fathers, if ye speak the truth!

37. Are they better, or the folk of Tubb‘a 1 and those before them? We destroyed them, for surely they were guilty.

38. And We created not the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in play.

39. We created them not save with truth; but most of them know not.

40. Assuredly the Day of Decision is the term for all of them,

41. A day when friend can in naught avail friend, nor can they be helped,

42. Save him on whom Allah hath mercy. Lo! He is the Mighty, the Merciful.

43. Lo! the tree of Zaqqûm,2

44. The food of the sinner!

45. Like molten brass, it seetheth in their bellies

46. As the seething of boiling water.

1 A name for many kings of Ḥimyar (the South Arabians), each of whom was called Tubb‘a just as every king of Egypt was called Pharaoh.

2 XXXVII, 62; LVI, 52.

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Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran. An Explanatory Translation, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, Consulted online at “Quran Archive - Texts and Studies on the Quran” on 29 Mar. 2024: http://quran-archive.org/explorer/marmaduke-pickthall/1930?page=517