The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
A doubter once demanded that punishment be immediately meted out, 1 for the unbelievers, which none may avert, 2 From Allah, Owner of the ascending steps. 3 The angels and the Ruh [Jibrael (Gabriel)] ascend to Him in a Day the measure whereof is fifty thousand years, 4 So persevere with becoming patience. 5 Indeed, they see it [as] distant, 6 But We see it very near. 7 On that Day the heaven shall become like molten copper, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 and no friend will ask about his 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 companion wife, his brother, 12 And his kin that sheltered him. 13 and of whoever [else] lives on earth, all of them - so that he could but save himself. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 snatching away the scalp, 16 calling him who drew back and turned away, 17 and amassed (riches) and hoarded. 18 ۞ Surely man was created fretful, 19 When they are afflicted, they complain, 20 And niggardly when good touches him; 21 Except the observers of prayer - 22 Those who are constant at their prayer 23 And those within whose wealth is a known right 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgment, 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 (from their Lord's chastisement none feels secure) 28 and who are mindful of their chastity, 29 save from their wives and what their right hands own, then not being blameworthy 30 But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors; 31 and who preserve their trusts and their covenant, 32 and those who are upright in their testimonies; 33 and who are constant in their prayers. 34 These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured! 35