2 Know thou that, through the power of His sovereign might, God hath seized him who was the foremost amongst them that passed judgement against Us. When he saw his torment approaching, he fled to Paris to seek recourse to physicians.
4 He was smitten upon the mouth and told: “There is no escape!”(76)
5 And when he turned towards the angel of wrath, he well-nigh expired from fear. “I have a house full of riches,” he pleaded. “I have a palace on the Bosphorus, beneath which the rivers flow.”
6 The angel replied: “No ransom shall be accepted from thee on this day, even shouldst thou offer up all things visible and invisible. Hearest thou not the sighs of the kindred of God, whom thou didst cast into prison without proof or testimony? Thy deed hath provoked the lamentation of the inmates of Paradise, and of those who circle morn and eve round the Throne on high. The wrath of thy Lord hath descended upon thee, and stern is He in His chastisement!”(77)
7 He made reply: “I held command over the people, and here is the mandate of my authority.”
8 “Hold thy peace, O denier of the Day of Judgement!”(78)
9 He implored: “Is no respite possible so that I may send for my family?”
10 “Far from it, O disbeliever in the verses of God!”
11 Thereupon the keepers of the fathomless abyss called unto him: “The gates of Hell have opened wide to receive thee, O thou who hast turned away from thy Lord, the Unconstrained! Repair unto its fire, for it yearneth after thee. Hast thou forgotten, O rejected one, when thou wert the Nimrod of the age, how thy tyranny eclipsed the very cruelties of Pharaoh, the Lord of the Stakes?(79) By God! Thine iniquity hath rent asunder the veil of sanctity and caused the pillars of heaven to tremble. Where canst thou find refuge now? Who shall protect thee from the dreadful scourge of thy Lord, the All-Compelling? There is no haven for thee in this Day, O ungodly doubter!” Whereupon the agony of death seized him and he saw no more. Thus did We lay hold on him in Our wrathful anger, and severe is thy Lord in His punishment.
12 Then an angel from the right hand of the Throne summoned him: “Behold the angel of affliction. Is there any place to flee to save hell, wherein the heart(80) boileth?” And the angel of chastisement received his spirit, and a voice proclaimed: “Enter the bottomless pit which hath been promised in the Book, and whose existence thou didst day and night deny!”
