The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
A questioner asked of a chastisement about to fall 1 to those who deny the truth. No power can hinder God 2 From Allah, Owner of the ascending steps. 3 To whom the angels and the soul take a day to ascend, whose length is fifty thousand years. 4 So, (O Prophet), persevere with gracious perseverance. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 Whereas We see it impending. 7 On the day when the heavens become like molten metal. 8 And the mountains shall be as tufts of wool 9 And no friend will ask after a friend, 10 They will be seeing them; the guilty will wish if only he could redeem himself from the punishment of that day, by offering his sons. 11 And his wife and his brother, 12 And his nearest kindred who shelter him 13 And all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 A remover of exteriors. 16 It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth), 17 And hoarded (wealth) and withheld it. 18 ۞ Indeed, mankind was created anxious: 19 when misfortune touches him he starts lamenting, 20 And when good toucheth him he is begrudging. 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 Who are constant at their worship 23 And those in whose riches is a known right. 24 For him who begs and for him who is denied (good) 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgment, 26 And those who are fearful of the chastisement of their Lord-- 27 For their Lord's displeasure is the opposite of Peace and Tranquillity;- 28 And those who guard their chastity, 29 except from their spouses and those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock], for which they incur no blame -- 30 (but whoso seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 And those who of their trusts and their covenant are keepers. 32 Who uphold their testimonies, 33 and who take due care of their Prayer: 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35