The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
A doubter once demanded that punishment be immediately meted out, 1 for the unbelievers, which none may avert, 2 [since it will come] from God, unto whom there are many ways of ascent: 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit (Gabriel) ascend in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 (Muhammad), exercise patience with no complaints. 5 Verily! They see it (the torment) afar off, 6 While we behold it nigh: 7 The Day that the sky will be like the boiling filth of oil, (or molten copper or silver or lead, etc.). 8 And then the mountains shall become like unto wool dyed. 9 And not a friend shall ask a friend, 10 though they are in sight of each other. To ransom himself from the punishment of that Day, the sinner will wish that he might even ransom himself by his sons, 11 his companion (wife), his brother, 12 the kinsmen who gave him shelter, 13 and all the people of the earth, if that could deliver him. 14 But never. It is pure white flame 15 A fire that melts the hide. 16 It shall insistently summon him who turned his back and retreated, 17 and who accumulated wealth without spending it for a good purpose. 18 ۞ Surely man was created fretful, 19 when evil visits him, impatient, 20 And, when good befalleth him, grudging; 21 Not so are the prayerful. 22 Those who are constant at their prayer 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 24 for those that ask and those that are dispossessed, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgement, 26 and are fearful of the punishment of their Lord; 27 for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord, 28 who guard their privates 29 except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed, 30 So those who desire more than this – it is they who are the transgressors. 31 And those who are faithful to their trusts and their covenant 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies; 33 And those who guard their Salat (prayers) well. 34 Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise) honoured. 35