In the name of the most merciful GOD. When the heaven shall be rent in sunder, and shall obey its LORD, and shall be capable _thereof_; and when the earth shall be stretched out, and shall cast forth that which _is_ therein, and shall remain empty, and shall obey its LORD, and shall be capable _thereof_: O man, verily laboring thou laborest to _meet_ thy LORD, and thou shalt meet him. And he who shall have his book given into his right hand shall be called to an easy account, and shall turn unto his family with joy: but he who shall have his book given him behind his back shall invoke destruction _to fall upon him_, and he shall be sent into hell to be burned; because he rejoiced insolently amidst his family _on earth_. Verily he thought he should never return _unto God_: yea verily, but his LORD beheld him. Wherefore I swear by the redness of the sky after sunset, and by the night, and the _animals_ which it driveth together, and by the moon when she is in the full; ye shall surely be transferred _successively_ from state to state. What _aileth_ them, therefore, that they believe not _the resurrection_; and that, when the Korân is read unto them, they worship not? Yea: the unbelievers accuse _the same_ of imposture: but GOD well knoweth the _malice_ which they keep hidden _in their breasts_. Wherefore denounce unto them a grievous punishment, except those who believe and do good works: for them _is prepared_ a never-failing reward. THE PRAYER OF AL-HARIRI From the 'Makamat' of al-Hariri of Basra: Translation of Theodore Preston