The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
A caller supplicated about a punishment to fall on 1 The infidels, of which there is no averter. 2 (A punishment) from Allah, the Owner of the Elevated Passages. 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit (Gabriel) ascend in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So be thou patient with a sweet patience; 5 Lo! they behold it afar off 6 But We see it very near. 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 will be like wool, 9 And no familiar friend will ask a question of his friend 10 though they may be in one another's sight: [for,] everyone who was lost in sin will on that Day but desire to ransom himself from suffering at the price of his own children, 11 His wife and his brother, 12 And his kin that sheltered him. 13 and whosoever is in the earth, altogether, so that it might save him. 14 But nay! Verily, all [that awaits him] is a raging flame, 15 It snatches away by the scalps, 16 Inviting (all) such as turn their backs and turn away their faces (from the Right). 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Verily man is formed impatient. 19 Irritable (discontented) when evil touches him; 20 And niggardly when good reaches him;- 21 Except those who closely follow (the Book of God), 22 Who persevere in devotion, 23 and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them,] 24 for those that ask and those that are dispossessed, 25 who acknowledge the Day of Judgment, 26 And those who are fearful of their Lord's torment 27 for, behold, of their Sustainer's chastisement none may ever feel [wholly] secure; 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 but those who go beyond that limit are transgressors; 31 And those who protect the property entrusted to them, and their agreements. 32 And those who are upright in their testimonies, 33 and who are constant in their prayers. 34 They will live in gardens with honour. 35