The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
Someone has (needlessly) demanded to experience the torment (of God), 1 Upon the disbelievers, which none can avert, 2 From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways 3 by which the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in one Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So be patient with gracious patience. 5 They deem it to be remote. 6 While we behold it nigh: 7 It shall befall on a Day whereon the sky will become like molten brass, 8 and the mountains will be like tufts of wool, 9 And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend, 10 though they shall be within sight of each other. The guilty one will gladly ransom himself from the torment of that Day by sacrificing his own children, 11 His wife and his brother, 12 his kin who sheltered him, 13 And all those that are in the earth, (wishing) then (that) this might deliver him. 14 But nay! Verily, all [that awaits him] is a raging flame, 15 Flaying off the scalp-skin. 16 calling him who drew back and turned away, 17 and amassed wealth and hoarded it. 18 ۞ Surely man is greedy by nature. 19 When evil touches him, impatient, 20 but when they are fortunate, they become niggardly 21 except those that pray, 22 Those who are constant in their prayer 23 And those in whose riches is a known right. 24 For the petitioner and the deprived - 25 those who firmly believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 who are afraid of the torment of their Lord, 27 Verily! The torment of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure, 28 And those who protect their private organs (from adultery). 29 Except in the case of their wives or those whom their right hands possess-- for these surely are not to be blamed, 30 (but whoso seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 And those who respect their trusts and covenants; 32 And those who are in their testimonies upright 33 And those who are mindful of their moral obligations. 34 These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured! 35