The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
A caller supplicated about a punishment to fall on 1 The unbelievers-- there is none to avert it-- 2 (A punishment) from Allah, the Owner of the Elevated Passages. 3 To Him ascend the angels and the Spirit in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So, (O Prophet), persevere with gracious perseverance. 5 Verily they think that the chastisement is far off, 6 But We see it [as] near. 7 On that Day the heavens shall become like molten brass, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 No loyal friend will ask another loyal friend 10 They will be seeing them; the guilty will wish if only he could redeem himself from the punishment of that day, by offering his sons. 11 and of his spouse, and of his brother, 12 his kinsmen who gave him refuge (from hardship) 13 And all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. 14 No, in truth, it is a Furnace! 15 tearing away his skin! 16 It shall call him who turneth back and backslideth. 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Lo! man was created anxious, 19 When evil touches him, impatient, 20 And refraining, when good reaches him. 21 But not so the worshippers 22 Who are at their prayer constant. 23 And those in whose wealth is a recognised right. 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 who confirm the Day of Reckoning 26 and 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 guard their chastity, 29 Except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess,- for (then) they are not to be blamed, 30 whereas such as seek to go beyond that [limit] are truly transgressors; 31 (Those) who keep their trusts and their covenant, 32 And those who are in their testimonies upright 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise) honoured. 35