Part 48

And the people of the right hand-oh! how happy shall be the people of the right hand!

Amid thornless sidrahs5

And talh6 trees clad with fruit,

And in extended shade,

And by flowing waters,

And with abundant fruits,7

Unfailing, unforbidden,

And on lofty couches.

Of a rare creation have we created the Houris,

And we have made them ever virgins,

Dear to their spouses, of equal age with them,8

For the people of the right hand,

A crowd of the former,

And a crowd of the latter generations.9

But the people of the left hand-oh! how wretched shall be the people of the left hand!

Amid pestilential10 winds and in scalding water,

And in the shadow of a black smoke,

Not cool, and horrid to behold.11

For they truly, ere this, were blessed with worldly goods,

But persisted in heinous sin,

And were wont to say,

"What! after we have died, and become dust and bones, shall we be raised?

And our fathers, the men of yore?"

SAY: Aye, the former and the latter:

Gathered shall they all be for the time of a known day.

Then ye, O ye the erring, the gainsaying,

Shall surely eat of the tree Ez-zakkoum,

And fill your bellies with it,