وَمَآ

أَدۡرَىٰكَ

مَا

سَقَرُ

٢٧

And what will make you realize what Hell is?

It does not let anyone live or die,¹

scorching the skin.

It is overseen by nineteen ˹keepers˺.

We have appointed only ˹stern˺ angels as wardens of the Fire. And We have made their number only as a test for the disbelievers,¹ so that the People of the Book will be certain, and the believers will increase in faith, and neither the People of the Book nor the believers will have any doubts, and so that those ˹hypocrites˺ with sickness in their hearts and the disbelievers will argue, “What does Allah mean by such a number?” In this way Allah leaves whoever He wills to stray and guides whoever He wills. And none knows the forces of your Lord except He. And this ˹description of Hell˺ is only a reminder to humanity.

But no! By the moon,

and the night as it retreats,

and the day as it breaks!

Surely Hell is one of the mightiest catastrophes—

a warning to humankind,

to whichever of you chooses to take the lead or lag behind.

Every soul will be detained for what it has done,

except the people of the right,

who will be in Gardens, asking one another

about the wicked ˹who will then be asked˺:

“What has landed you in Hell?”

They will reply, “We were not of those who prayed,

nor did we feed the poor.

We used to indulge ˹in falsehood˺ along with others,

and deny the Day of Judgment,

until the inevitable came to us.”