The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
AN INQUIRER ASKED for the affliction that is to come 1 to those who deny the truth. No power can hinder God 2 from punishing them. He is the Lord of the Ascending Stairways, 3 The angels and Jibreel, ascend towards Him – the punishment will befall on a day which spans fifty thousand years. 4 So persevere with becoming patience. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 but, We see it as near! 7 Upon the day when heaven shall be as molten copper 8 And the hills will be light as wool. 9 and [when] no friend will ask about his friend, 10 although they shall be within sight of one another. The guilty one would fain ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his children, 11 And his wife and his brother. 12 and of all the kinsfolk who ever sheltered him, 13 And all who are on the earth; so that this might deliver him. 14 By no means! For the raging flames of the fire 15 Flaying off the scalp-skin. 16 and it will claim all those who turned their backs [on the true faith] and turned away [from the truth], 17 And collected [wealth] and hoarded. 18 ۞ Indeed, mankind was created anxious: 19 [As a rule,] whenever misfortune touches him, he is filled with self-pity; 20 and tight-fisted when good fortune visits him, 21 save those that pray 22 Those who are regular in their prayers. 23 And those in whose wealth there is a fixed portion. 24 For the beggar who asks, and for the unlucky who has lost his property and wealth, (and his means of living has been straitened); 25 and who accept as true the [coming of the] Day of Judgment; 26 and are fearful of the punishment of their Lord; 27 Verily! The torment of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure, 28 And those who guard their sex except from their wives and women slaves of old 29 [not giving way to their desires] with any but their spouses - that is, those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock]: for then, behold, they are free of all blame, 30 but whoever goes beyond this is a transgressor; 31 And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive 32 and standby their witnessing, 33 and who are constant in their prayers. 34 They will be in gardens, honored. 35