The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
A questioner asked concerning a torment about to befall 1 for the unbelievers, which none may avert, 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 The angels and the spirit ascend unto him in a Day the measure whereof is (as) fifty thousand years: 4 So, (O Prophet), persevere with gracious perseverance. 5 they see it as being far off; 6 But We see it [as] near. 7 Upon the day when heaven shall be as molten copper 8 and the mountains will become like dyed tufts of wool, 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 wife and his brother 12 And his kin that harboured him 13 And whoever is on earth entirely [so] then it could save him. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 that will strip off the scalp. 16 It shall insistently summon him who turned his back and retreated, 17 And hoarded (wealth) and withheld it. 18 ۞ VERILY, man is born with a restless disposition. 19 When evil toucheth him, he is bewailing. 20 If good comes to him he holds back his hand, 21 except those that pray 22 [and] who incessantly persevere in their prayer 23 and those in whose wealth there is a known right 24 For the beggar and the destitute; 25 who acknowledge the Day of Judgment, 26 and go in fear of the punishment of their Lord, 27 Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- 28 who guard their privates 29 Except in the case of their wives or those whom their right hands possess-- for these surely 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 are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges; 32 and those who stand by their testimony 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