The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
Someone has (needlessly) demanded to experience the torment (of God), 1 the unbelievers which none can prevent. 2 [It is] from Allah, owner of the ways of ascent. 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit (Gabriel) ascend in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 (Muhammad), exercise patience with no complaints. 5 Verily! They see it (the torment) afar off, 6 But We see it (quite) near. 7 On that Day the heaven shall become like molten copper, 8 And the mountains shall be as tufts of wool 9 And not a friend shall ask a friend, 10 Though they shall be made to see one another. Fain would the guilty ransom himself from the torment of that Day by his children. 11 His wife and his brother, 12 And his family who had stood by him, 13 and all those on earth. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 That would skin the scalp. 16 It will summon whoever turns his back and flees, 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Surely man is created of a hasty temperament 19 [As a rule,] whenever misfortune touches him, he is filled with self-pity; 20 And niggardly when good reaches him;- 21 except those that pray, 22 and constant in their prayers. 23 and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them,] 24 for the impoverished nonrequester and the requester, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord. 27 (from their Lord's chastisement none feels secure) 28 And those who guard their private parts 29 except from their spouses and those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock], for which they incur no blame -- 30 whereas such as seek to go beyond that [limit] are truly transgressors; 31 And those who keep their pledges and their covenant, 32 And those who are in their testimonies upright 33 and who observe their prayers. 34 They will live in gardens with honour. 35