The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen 1 The Unbelievers, the which there is none to ward off,- 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 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 Surely they think it to be far off, 6 And We see it nigh. 7 On the Day the sky will be like murky oil, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 no loyal friend shall question loyal 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 his kin who sheltered him, 13 and all persons of the earth, if only he could thus save himself. 14 By no means! Verily it is a Flame. 15 It snatches away by the scalps, 16 It shall call him who turneth back and backslideth. 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Human beings are created greedy. 19 When evil touches him, impatient, 20 And refraining, when good reaches him. 21 Except the observers of prayer - 22 and constant in their prayers. 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 24 For the needy and those dispossessed, 25 who acknowledge the Day of Judgment, 26 and go in fear of the punishment of their Lord, 27 the punishment of their Lord is not something for them to feel secure of, 28 And those who guard their chastity, 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 those who trespass beyond this are transgressors;- 31 And those who respect their trusts and covenants; 32 And those who stand by their testimony 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 It is these who will be honoured in Gardens. 35