本章各节押韵一致、节奏贯穿始终。开篇几处富有美感的描写，仿佛从周围的宇宙及其种种现象中自然生发出来。这些现象构成一个框架，包容着本章所要阐明的伟大真理，即人的本性、人与生俱来的能力、行为的抉择，以及人在决定自身命运方面所承担的责任。

This sūrah, which maintains the same rhyme in all its verses and keeps the same musical beat throughout, starts with several aesthetic touches which seem to spring out from the surrounding universe and its phenomena. These phenomena form the framework which encompasses the great truth which is the subject matter of the sūrah, namely, the nature of man, his inherent abilities, choice of action, and responsibility in determining his own fate.

本章还提到了塞穆德人（Thamūd）的故事：他们对真主的使者所给予的警告持消极态度，杀死了母驼，最终被彻底毁灭。这为那些污染自己的灵魂而不是使其保持纯洁、且不约束自己于敬畏界限之内的人提供了一个例证，昭示了他们黯淡的前景。“使其净化的人必定成功，使其蒙尘的人必定失败。”（第9-10节）

This sūrah also refers to the story of the Thamūd and their negative attitude to the warnings they received from God’s messenger, to their killing of the she-camel, and finally their complete annihilation. This provides an example of the unpromising prospects which await those who corrupt their souls instead of keeping them pure and who do not confine themselves within the limits of piety. “Successful is the one who keeps it pure, and ruined is the one who corrupts it.” (Verses 9-10)

{以太阳及其朝晖起誓，以跟随太阳的月亮起誓，以显示太阳光辉的白昼起誓，以遮蔽太阳的黑夜起誓。以天及其构建起誓，以地及其铺展起誓，以灵魂及其塑造，以及使其获知善恶的启示起誓。使灵魂纯洁的人必定成功，使灵魂堕落的人必定失败。}（第1-10节）

By the sun and his morning brightness, by the moon as she follows him, by the day, which reveals his splendour, by the night, which veils him. By the heaven and its construction, by the earth and its spreading, by the soul and its moulding and inspiration with knowledge of wickedness and righteousness. Successful is the one who keeps it pure, and ruined is the one who corrupts it. (Verses 1-10)

真主以这些事物和宇宙现象起誓，正如祂以人的灵魂起誓一样——包括灵魂是如何被塑造的，以及它所接受的启示。这样的起誓赋予这些受造物以额外的意义，并引起人们对它们的关注。人应当思索这些现象，努力体会它们的价值，以及它们被创造的目的。

God swears by these objects and universal phenomena as He swears by the human soul, how it is fashioned and the inspiration it receives. The oath gives these creatures an added significance and draws man’s attention to them. Man ought to contemplate these phenomena and try to appreciate their value and the purpose of their creation.

实际上存在着一种特殊的语言,人心借此与宇宙交流。这种语言属于人的天性。它不使用声音和发音,而是传达给心灵的信息,是注入灵魂的启示。每当人仰望宇宙,看到令人振奋或愉悦的景象时,灵魂便会苏醒过来。因此,《古兰经》屡次敦促人们思考周围的万物。它采用多种方式来达到这一目的:有时直接提出,有时则通过暗示、旁敲侧击和触动来引导。例如,在这一段中,宇宙中的某些现象被用作真主的起誓对象,以此为后文的sūrah内容搭建框架。这些明确的指示与间接的暗示,在本卷的各章经文中非常频繁。几乎每一章经文都会以某种方式鼓励人与宇宙进行交流,通过那种隐秘的语言,使他能够领会其中的迹象,理解其所传达的讯息。

There exists in fact, some kind of a special language through which the human heart communicates with the universe. This language is part of human nature. It is a language which does not use sounds and articulation. It is a communication to hearts and an inspiration to souls which come alive whenever man looks up to the universe for an inspiring or cheerful sight. Hence, the Qur’ān frequently urges man to reflect upon his surroundings. It does this in various ways, sometimes directly and sometimes with hints, incidental touches and stimuli. In this case, for example, some phenomena of the universe are made the subject of God’s oath, in order to serve as a framework for what follows in the sūrah. These explicit directives and indirect hints are very frequent in the sūrahs of the present volume. There is hardly any sūrah which does not encourage man, in one way or another, to communicate with the universe, in secret language, so that he may appreciate its signs and understand its address.

以太阳及白昼来起誓,令人振奋。此誓词还指明了太阳升上地平线的时刻,那时它确实最为美丽。的确,在冬季,上午时分带来令人舒爽的暖意;在夏季,正午酷热来临之前,空气温和清新,太阳也最为明亮清澈。

Here we have an inspiring oath by the sun and the mid-morning. The oath also specifies the time when the sun rises above the horizon, when it is indeed at its most beautiful. Indeed, mid-morning is, in winter, a time of refreshing warmth. In summer, it is a time when the atmosphere is just mild and fresh before the blazing heat of midday sets in, and the sun is at its clearest.

该章接着阐述了关于人的根本真理，并将这一真理与宇宙中的种种现象联系起来，因为人是这和谐创造中最奇妙的造化之一："以灵魂及使它匀称的（真主），并启示它辨别善恶。净化灵魂的，必定成功；埋没灵魂的，必定失败。"（第7-10节）

The sūrah moves on to state the basic truth about man, and relates this truth to the various phenomena of the universe, for man is one of the most remarkable wonders in this harmonious creation: “By the soul and its moulding and inspiration with knowledge of wickedness and righteousness. Successful is the one who keeps it pure, and ruined is the one who corrupts it.” (Verses 7-10)

这四节经文，连同前一章《城市》第10节“并且我已为他指明两条道路”，以及第76章《人》第3节“我已为他指明正道，无论他是感恩的还是忘恩的”，构成了伊斯兰人类心理观念的基础。它们补充了第38章《Şād》中指出人的构造具有二元性的经文，该章说：“你的主对天使说：‘我要从泥土创造一个人。当我把他造好，并把我的灵魂吹进他里面，你们就向他叩头。’”（38：71-72）这些经文还与界定人的责任和对其行为的担当的经文相互补充、彼此关联，例如第74章《裹衣的人》所说：“每个人都为他所做的事而被扣押。”以及第13章《雷霆》中的经文，它说明真主对待人的态度直接取决于人自身的行为：“真主绝不改变一个民族的境况，除非他们改变自己心中所有的东西。”（13：11）这些经文以及类似的经文，极其清晰地界定了伊斯兰的人观。

The basis of the Islamic concept of human psychology is outlined in these four verses, along with verse 10 of the preceding sūrah, The City, “And [We have] shown him the two paths,” and verse 3 in Sūrah 76, Man, which says: “We have shown him the right path, be he grateful or ungrateful.” They supplement the verses which point out the duality in man’s make-up in Sūrah 38, Şād, which says: “Your Lord said to the angels, ‘I am creating man from clay. When I have fashioned him, and breathed of My spirit into him, kneel down and prostrate yourselves before him.’“ (38: 7172) These verses also supplement and relate to the verses which define man’s responsibility and accountability for his actions, such as the one in Sūrah 74, The Cloaked One, which reads: “Everyone is held in pledge for whatever he has wrought,” and the verse in Sūrah 13, Thunder, which states that God’s attitude to man is directly related to man’s own behaviour: “God does not change a people’s lot until they change what is in their hearts.” (13: 11) These and similar verses define the Islamic view of man with perfect clarity.

真主创造了人，赋予他一种双重的天性与能力。所谓双重，是指构成人的两种成分——大地的泥土和真主的灵魂——在他身上形成了两种同等的倾向：趋向善或趋向恶，遵循神圣的指引或误入歧途。人既能辨认所遇事物中的善，也能辨认其中的恶，同样也有能力使自己走向其中任何一方。这种双重能力深深植根于他的内心。所有外在因素，例如天启的经典，只是唤醒他的能力，帮助它走向自己所选择的道路。换言之，这些因素并不创造这种与生俱来的能力，它们只是帮助其发展。

God has created man with a duality of nature and ability. What we mean by duality is that the two ingredients in his make-up, i.e. earth’s clay and God’ spirit, form within him two equal tendencies to good or evil, to either follow divine guidance or go astray. Man is just as capable of recognizing the good as he is of recognizing the evil in everything he encounters, and he is equally capable of directing himself one way or the other. This dual ability is deeply ingrained within him. All external factors, like divine messages, only serve to awaken his ability and help it take its chosen way. In other words, these factors do not create this innate ability; they only help it to develop.

随后，本章以一个例子说明那些败坏自身、并在自己与神圣指引之间设下屏障的人所遭遇的失败：“萨慕德人因傲慢自大而否认真理，那时他们中最不幸的恶徒挺身而出。神的使者对他们说：‘这是神的母驼，让它喝水吧。’可他们拒绝了他，并残忍地宰杀了它。因他们这罪，他们的主便降下刑罚，将他们的城镇夷为平地。祂对所发生的事毫不畏惧。”（第11至15节）

The sūrah then gives an example of the failure which befalls those who corrupt themselves, and erect a barrier between themselves and divine guidance: “In their overweening arrogance the people of Thamūd denied the truth, when their most hapless wretch broke forth. God’s Messenger said to them: ‘It is a she-camel belonging to God, so let her have her drink.’ But they rejected him, and cruelly slaughtered her. For this their sin their Lord let loose His scourge upon them, and razed their city to the ground. He does not fear what may follow.” (Verses 11-15)

《古兰经》多次提到萨莫德人（Thamūd）及其使者萨利哈（Şāliĥ）的故事。每次提及时都有相应的论述。读者如欲了解更多细节，可参阅本书中对第89章《黎明》的注释。然而，本章经文指出，萨莫德人拒绝了他们的先知，并指责他说谎，仅仅是因为他们傲慢而肆无忌惮。这里以他们中最不幸、最可悲的人急于宰杀母驼来比喻他们的罪过。他因其罪行而成为最可悲的人。他们的使者曾预先警告他们说：“这是真主的母驼，让它喝水吧。”这是当他们向他要求一个迹象时所提出的条件。这个迹象就是：母驼一天独享水源，次日则把水让给其余的牲畜。这头母驼或许还有其他特异之处，但我们不作细述，因为真主没有告诉我们。然而，萨莫德人没有听从使者的警告，而是杀死了母驼。犯下此罪、作恶至深的那个人固然最可悲，但他们全体都要承担责任，因为他们没有追究他。相反，他们还称赞他的所作所为。伊斯兰的一项基本原则是：社会在今世负有集体责任。这与后世每个人须为自己的行为负责的个人责任原则并不相悖。然而，不相互劝导、不彼此督促遵循善行，不惩治邪恶与逾越，则是一种罪过。

The story of the Thamūd and their messenger, Şāliĥ, is mentioned several times in the Qur’ān. A discussion of it is given every time it occurs. The reader may refer for further details to the commentary on Sūrah 89, The Dawn, in this volume. The present sūrah, however, states that the people of Thamūd rejected their prophet and accused him of lying simply because they were arrogant and insolent. Their transgression is represented here by the most hapless wretch among them rushing to slaughter the she-camel. He is the most wretched as a result of his crime. Their messenger had warned them in advance, saying, “It is a she-camel belonging to God, so let her have her drink.” This was his condition when they asked him for a sign. The sign was that the she-camel had the water for herself one day and left it for the rest of the cattle the next day. The she-camel must have had something else peculiar to her, but we shall not go into detail because God has not told us about it. The Thamūd, however, did not heed their messenger’s warnings but killed the she-camel. The person who perpetrated the crime, the arch sinner, is the most- wretched, but they were all held responsible because they did not take him to task. On the contrary, they applauded what he did. A basic principle of Islam is that society bears a collective responsibility in this life. This does not conflict with the principle of individual responsibility in the hereafter when everyone is answerable for his own deeds. It is a sin, however, not to counsel and urge one another to adhere to what is good and not to punish evil and transgression.

由于samud人的傲慢和他们骇人的罪行,灾难降临到他们身上:“他们因罪过,主便降罚于他们,将他们的城夷为平地。”(第14节)阿拉伯文经文用动词damdama表示“降罚”,这一重复的词形增添了一层恐怖之感,因为我们由此得知,那座城被彻底夷平了。