The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
One demanding, demanded the chastisement which must befall 1 Upon the disbelievers – the punishment that none can avert. 2 (A punishment) from Allah, the Owner of the Elevated Passages. 3 To whom the angels and the soul take a day to ascend, whose length is fifty thousand years. 4 So be patient with gracious patience. 5 They see the (Day) indeed as a far-off (event): 6 And We behold it nigh. 7 On the Day the sky will be like murky oil, 8 And the hills become as flakes of wool, 9 And no familiar friend will ask a question of 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 And his wife and his brother, 12 And his kin that harboured him 13 and all persons of the earth, if only he could thus save himself. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 Dragging by the head, 16 It will summon whoever turns his back and flees, 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Verily, man (disbeliever) was created very impatient; 19 [As a rule,] whenever misfortune touches him, he is filled with self-pity; 20 and whenever good fortune comes to him, he grows niggardly. 21 Except those devoted to Salat (prayers) 22 Who are at their prayer constant. 23 They are those who assign a certain share of their property 24 For the needy and those dispossessed, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgment, 26 And those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord - 27 Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- 28 and who are mindful of their chastity, 29 except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed, 30 But whosoever seeks beyond that, then it is those who are trespassers. 31 And those who protect the property entrusted to them, and their agreements. 32 and who stand firm whenever they bear witness; 33 and who guard their prayers [from all worldly intent]. 34 Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise) honoured. 35