The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 Upon the disbelievers – the punishment that none can avert. 2 [since it will come] from God, unto whom there are many ways of ascent: 3 The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So be thou patient with a sweet patience; 5 They deem it to be remote. 6 And We see it nigh. 7 The Day that the sky will be like the boiling filth of oil, (or molten copper or silver or lead, etc.). 8 and the mountains become like wool, 9 And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend, 10 Though they will be given sight of them. The guilty man will long to be able to ransom himself from the punishment of that day at the price of his children 11 And his wife and his brother 12 And the family in which he was. 13 And all those who are in the earth – then only if the redemption saves him! 14 By no means! It will be the fierce flame 15 snatching away the scalp, 16 Inviting (all) such as turn their backs and turn away their faces (from the Right). 17 And collect (wealth) and hide it (from spending it in the Cause of Allah). 18 ۞ VERILY, man is born with a restless disposition. 19 When evil touches him, impatient, 20 And refraining, when good reaches him. 21 Except those who pray, 22 who are steadfast in prayer; 23 who, from their wealth is a known right 24 For the beggar and the destitute; 25 And those who testify to the Day of Requital. 26 and fear the chastisement of their Lord – 27 the punishment of their Lord is not something for them to feel secure of, 28 and those who guard their private parts, 29 except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed, 30 And whosoever seeketh beyond that, then it is those who are the trespassers 31 And those who protect the property entrusted to them, and their agreements. 32 And those who are firm upon their testimonies. 33 And those who keep a guard on their prayer, 34 Those are highly honored in the Gardens. 35