The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen 1 To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer. 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit mount up, in a day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 Wherefore be thou patient with a becoming patience. 5 Surely they think it to be far off, 6 Whereas We see it impending. 7 The day the sky becomes like molten brass, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 And no friend will ask 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 the nearest of his kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 and all the people of the earth, if that could deliver him. 14 No, in truth, it is a Furnace! 15 that will strip off the scalp. 16 It will claim all such as turn their backs [on what is right,] and turn away [from the truth,] 17 And amasses (wealth) then shuts it up. 18 ۞ Surely man is created of a hasty temperament 19 When evil toucheth him, he is bewailing. 20 and whenever good fortune comes to him, he selfishly withholds it [from others]. 21 save those that pray 22 [and] who incessantly persevere in their prayer 23 And those in whose wealth is a recognised right. 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 who acknowledge the Day of Judgment, 26 And those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord - 27 Verily the torment of their Lord is not a thing to feel secure from. 28 And those who guard their private parts, 29 Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed - 30 but any who seeks to go beyond that, it is indeed they who are the transgressors, 31 and those who fulfil their trusts and their covenants, 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies; 33 And those who are attentive at their worship. 34 They will be honoured in the Gardens of Bliss. 35