The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
A questioner asked concerning a torment about to befall 1 The Unbelievers, the which there is none to ward off,- 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 To whom the angels and the soul take a day to ascend, whose length is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believers] behave with seemly patience. 5 They see the (Day) indeed as a far-off (event): 6 but We see it to be very near. 7 The Day that the sky will be like molten brass, 8 and the mountains shall be as plucked wool-tufts, 9 And not a friend shall ask a friend, 10 Though within sight of one another. The sinner would like to ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his sons, 11 and his spouse and his brother, 12 his kinsmen who gave him refuge (from hardship) 13 and whosoever is in the earth, all together, so that then it might deliver him. 14 No, in truth, it is a Furnace! 15 A fire that melts the hide. 16 It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth), 17 And collect (wealth) and hide it (from spending it in the Cause of Allah). 18 ۞ Indeed, mankind was created anxious: 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 If good comes to him he holds back his hand, 21 Except those devoted to Salat (prayers) 22 Those who remain steadfast to 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 that before which none can feel secure, 28 And those who preserve their chastity 29 Except with their wives and the bondwomen in their possession, for there is no reproach on them. 30 whereas such as seek to go beyond that [limit] are truly transgressors; 31 and those who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges; 32 who testify to what they have witnessed, 33 And those who protect their prayers. 34 It is these who will be honoured in Gardens. 35