The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen 1 Upon the disbelievers – the punishment that none can avert. 2 [It is] from Allah, owner of the ways of ascent. 3 all the angels and all the inspiration [ever granted to man] ascend unto Him [daily,] in a day the length whereof is [like] fifty thousand years… 4 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see. 5 they see it as being far off; 6 But We see it [as] near. 7 The day the sky becomes like molten brass, 8 and the mountains shall be as plucked wool-tufts, 9 And no friend inquires after 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 wife and his brother 12 his kin who sheltered him, 13 And all those that are in the earth, (wishing) then (that) this might deliver him. 14 No, in truth, it is a Furnace! 15 snatching away the scalp, 16 It shall call him who turneth back and backslideth. 17 And hoarded (wealth) and withheld it. 18 ۞ Surely man is greedy by nature. 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 And niggardly when good befalls him 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 Those who remain constant in their Salat (prayers); 23 and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them,] 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 those who firmly believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 and who stand in dread of their Sustainer's chastisement 27 Verily the torment of their Lord is not a thing to feel secure from. 28 And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts from illegal sexual acts). 29 Except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess,- for (then) they are not to be blamed, 30 (but whoso seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 And those who are faithful to their trusts and their covenant 32 And those who stand by their testimony 33 and who take due care of their Prayer: 34 These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured! 35