The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Someone has (needlessly) demanded to experience the torment (of God), 1 The infidels, of which there is no averter. 2 from punishing them. He is the Lord of the Ascending Stairways, 3 The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years. 4 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see. 5 Indeed, they see it [as] distant, 6 But We see it very near. 7 [It will take place] on a Day when the sky will be like molten lead, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend, 10 although they shall be within sight of one another. The guilty one would fain ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his children, 11 his companion (wife), his brother, 12 And his kin that harboured him 13 And all, all that is on earth,- so it could deliver him: 14 No, in truth, it is a Furnace! 15 Plucking out (his being) right to the skull!- 16 calling him who drew back and turned away, 17 And collected [wealth] and hoarded. 18 ۞ Surely man is greedy by nature. 19 When evil toucheth him, he is bewailing. 20 And niggardly when good touches him; 21 Not so are the prayerful. 22 and continue at their prayers, 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 24 For the needy and those dispossessed, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense 26 And those who fear the displeasure of their Lord,- 27 (from their Lord's chastisement none feels secure) 28 and guard their private parts 29 Except with their wives and the bondwomen in their possession, for there is no reproach on them. 30 And whosoever seeketh beyond that, then it is those who are the trespassers 31 And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive 32 and those who stand by their testimony 33 And those who are attentive at their worship. 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35