The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
A questioner questioned concerning the doom about to fall 1 To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer. 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 (Muhammad), exercise patience with no complaints. 5 Indeed, they see it [as] distant, 6 And We behold it nigh. 7 On the day when the heavens become like molten metal. 8 and the mountains shall be as plucked wool-tufts, 9 And no friend will ask of a friend, 10 though they may see each other. A sinner will wish that he could save himself from the torment of that day by sacrificing his children, 11 and his spouse and his brother, 12 his kin who sheltered him, 13 And all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 A fire that melts the hide. 16 It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth), 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Surely man is created of a hasty temperament 19 When evil touches him, impatient, 20 but when good comes upon him, he is grudging 21 Except those devoted to Salat (prayers) 22 Those who remain constant in their Salat (prayers); 23 In whose wealth a due share is included 24 For the beggar and the destitute; 25 and who accept as true the [coming of the] Day of Judgment; 26 and go in fear of the chastisement of their Lord 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 who guard their carnal desires 29 Save with their wives and those whom their right hands possess, for thus they are not blameworthy; 30 But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors; 31 and those who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges; 32 And those who are upright in their testimonies, 33 and who take due care of their Prayer: 34 They will live in gardens with honour. 35