The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen 1 To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer. 2 No one can defend him against God, the Lord of the exalted positions. 3 by which the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in one Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So, (O Prophet), persevere with gracious perseverance. 5 Verily they think that the chastisement is far off, 6 but, We see it as near! 7 The Day that the sky will be like the boiling filth of oil, (or molten copper or silver or lead, etc.). 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 and no friend will ask about his 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 the nearest of his kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 and all the people of the earth, if that could deliver him. 14 Never! That is indeed a blazing fire. 15 snatching away the scalp, 16 It shall call him who turneth back and backslideth. 17 And amasses (wealth) then shuts it up. 18 ۞ Surely man is created of a hasty temperament 19 when evil visits him, impatient, 20 And niggardly when good touches him; 21 except those that pray 22 and are constant in their Prayer; 23 And those in whose wealth is a recognised right. 24 For the needy and those dispossessed, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 And those who guard their chastity, 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 of their trusts and their covenant are keepers. 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies. 33 And those who keep a guard on their prayer, 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35