The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
A requester seeks the punishment that will take place – 1 Upon the disbelievers – the punishment that none can avert. 2 (A punishment) from Allah, the Owner of the Elevated Passages. 3 by which the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in one Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore do thou hold Patience,- a Patience of beautiful (contentment). 5 Lo! they behold it afar off 6 And We see it nigh. 7 The Day that the sky will be like the boiling filth of oil, (or molten copper or silver or lead, etc.). 8 and the mountains become like wool, 9 and no bosom friend will enquire about any of his bosom friends 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 kindred who sheltered him, 13 And all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. 14 By no means! It will be the fierce flame 15 snatching away the scalp, 16 and it shall call him who withdrew and turned his back 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Surely man is greedy by nature. 19 Fretful when evil touches him; 20 and tight-fisted when good fortune visits him, 21 except those who are steadfast 22 who are steadfast in prayer; 23 who, from their wealth is a known right 24 For the beggar and the destitute. 25 And those who testify to the Day of Requital. 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts from illegal sexual acts). 29 except from their wives and what their right hands own, for these they are not blameworthy. 30 But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors; 31 And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants, 32 And those who are in their testimonies upright 33 and who observe their prayers. 34 such people will receive due honor in Paradise. 35