The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 the unbelievers which none can prevent. 2 From Allah, the Lord of the ways of Ascent. 3 The angels and Jibreel, ascend towards Him – the punishment will befall on a day which spans fifty thousand years. 4 Wherefore be thou patient with a becoming patience. 5 Verily! They see it (the torment) afar off, 6 but We see it to be very near. 7 The day the sky becomes like molten brass, 8 and the mountains shall be like puffs of wool. 9 And no friend inquires after 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 His wife and his brother, 12 the kinsmen who gave him shelter, 13 and of whoever [else] lives on earth, all of them - so that he could but save himself. 14 No, in truth, it is a Furnace! 15 snatching away the scalp, 16 and it shall call him who withdrew and turned his back 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Indeed, mankind was created anxious: 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 And niggardly when good touches him; 21 save those that pray 22 Those who are constant at their prayer 23 and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them,] 24 For the beggar and the destitute. 25 And those who testify to the Day of Requital. 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord. 27 Surely the chastisement of their Lord is (a thing) not to be felt secure of-- 28 And those who preserve their chastity 29 Except in the case of their wives or those whom their right hands possess-- for these surely are not to be blamed, 30 And whosoever seeketh beyond that, then it is those who are the trespassers 31 and those who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges; 32 who testify to what they have witnessed, 33 and who are constant in their prayers. 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35