with eyes downcast, totally covered with disgrace. For they were ˹always˺ called to prostrate ˹in the world˺ when they were fully capable ˹but they chose not to˺.
68:43
So leave to Me ˹O Prophet˺ those who reject this message. We will gradually draw them to destruction in ways they cannot comprehend.
68:44
I ˹only˺ delay their end for a while, but My planning is flawless.
68:45
Or are you asking them for a reward ˹for the message˺ so that they are overburdened by debt?
68:46
Or do they have access to ˹the Record in˺ the unseen, so they copy it ˹for all to see˺?
68:47
So be patient with your Lord’s decree, and do not be like ˹Jonah,˺ the Man of the Whale, who cried out ˹to Allah˺, in total distress.1
68:48
Had he not been shown grace by his Lord, he would have certainly been cast onto the open ˹shore˺, still blameworthy.
68:49
Then his Lord chose him, making him one of the righteous.
68:50
The disbelievers would almost cut you down with their eyes when they hear ˹you recite˺ the Reminder,1 and say, “He is certainly a madman.”
68:51
But it is simply a reminder to the whole world.
68:52
The Inevitable Hour!
69:1
What is the Inevitable Hour?
69:2
And what will make you realize what the Inevitable Hour is?
69:3
˹Both˺ Thamûd and ’Ȃd denied the Striking Disaster.1
69:4
As for Thamûd, they were destroyed by an overwhelming blast.
69:5
And as for ’Ȃd, they were destroyed by a furious, bitter wind
69:6
which Allah unleashed on them non-stop for seven nights and eight days, so that you would have seen its people lying dead like trunks of uprooted palm trees.
69:7
Do you see any of them left alive?
69:8