The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
AN INQUIRER ASKED for the affliction that is to come 1 Upon the disbelievers, which none can avert, 2 [since it will come] from God, unto whom there are many ways of ascent: 3 by which the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in one Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believer,] endure all adversity with goodly patience: 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 And We behold it nigh. 7 The day when the sky will become as molten copper, 8 And then the mountains shall become like unto wool dyed. 9 And friend shall not ask of friend 10 though they may see each other. A sinner will wish that he could save himself from the torment of that day by sacrificing his children, 11 his wife, his brother, 12 his kin who sheltered him, 13 And all that are in the earth, if then it might deliver him. 14 Never! That is indeed a blazing fire. 15 will strip-off the flesh 16 It invites he who turned his back [on truth] and went away [from obedience] 17 and amassed wealth and covetously hoarded it. 18 ۞ Truly man was created very impatient;- 19 When evil touches him, impatient, 20 and whenever good fortune comes to him, he selfishly withholds it [from others]. 21 But not so the worshippers 22 Those who are constant at their prayer 23 And in whose wealth there is a right acknowledged 24 For those who beg, and for the needy who cannot even ask. 25 and who accept as true the [coming of the] Day of Judgment; 26 who are afraid of the torment of their Lord, 27 the punishment of their Lord is not something for them to feel secure of, 28 who guard their privates 29 [not giving way to their desires] with any but their spouses - that is, those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock]: for then, behold, they are free of all blame, 30 But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors; 31 and those who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges; 32 And those who stand by their testimony 33 And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer: 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35