The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
A questioner asked of a chastisement about to fall 1 The Unbelievers, the which there is none to ward off,- 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 To whom the angels and the soul take a day to ascend, whose length is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore be patient, with a beautiful patience; 5 Lo! they behold it afar off 6 And We see it nigh. 7 On the Day the sky will be like murky oil, 8 And the hills will be light as wool. 9 No loyal friend will ask another loyal friend 10 They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children 11 his companion wife, his brother, 12 And the family in which he was. 13 And all that are in the earth, if then it might deliver him. 14 By no means! It will be the fierce flame 15 that will strip off the scalp. 16 and drag into it anyone who has turned away (from obeying God), 17 and amassed wealth and hoarded it. 18 ۞ Indeed man is created very impatient, greedy. 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 and whenever good fortune comes to him, he selfishly withholds it [from others]. 21 except those that pray, 22 Those who remain constant in their Salat (prayers); 23 In whose wealth a due share is included 24 For those who beg, and for the needy who cannot even ask. 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 and who stand in dread of their Sustainer's chastisement 27 for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord, 28 who guard their privates 29 except from their wives and what their right hands own, for these they are not blameworthy. 30 And whosoever seeketh beyond that, then it is those who are the trespassers 31 And those who of their trusts and their covenant are keepers. 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies; 33 and who are constant in their prayers. 34 Those shall be in Gardens, high-honoured. 35