The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 for the unbelievers, which none may avert, 2 From God, the Lord of the steps (of progression), 3 by which the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in one Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So persevere with becoming patience. 5 Lo! they behold it afar off 6 While we behold it nigh: 7 On the day when the heavens become like molten metal. 8 And the mountains shall be as tufts of wool 9 And no friend will ask concerning his friend. 10 (Though) they shall be made to see each other. The guilty one would fain redeem himself from the chastisement of that day by (sacrificing) his children, 11 And his spouse and his brother 12 And his family who had stood by him, 13 And all those who are on the earth, to save himself. 14 By no means! For the raging flames of the fire 15 stripping away his skin, 16 and drag into it anyone who has turned away (from obeying God), 17 And masseth and then hoardeth. 18 ۞ VERILY, man is born with a restless disposition. 19 Fretful when evil befalleth him 20 And refraining, when good reaches him. 21 Except those who closely follow (the Book of God), 22 and are constant in their Prayer; 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 24 For the beggar who asks, and for the unlucky who has lost his property and wealth, (and his means of living has been straitened); 25 And those who believe the Day of Judgement to be true. 26 And those who fear the displeasure of their Lord,- 27 For their Lord's displeasure is the opposite of Peace and Tranquillity;- 28 and those who guard their private parts, 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 seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 And those who are faithful to their trusts and their covenant 32 and standby their witnessing, 33 And those who of their prayer are observant. 34 Those shall dwell in Gardens, honoured. 35