The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 Upon the disbelievers – the punishment that none can avert. 2 From Allah, Owner of the ascending steps. 3 To Him ascend the angels and the Spirit in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So, (O Prophet), persevere with gracious perseverance. 5 They surely take it to be far away, 6 but, We see it as near! 7 Upon the day when heaven shall be as molten copper 8 and the mountains become like wool, 9 No loyal friend will ask another loyal friend 10 Though they shall be made to see one another. Fain would the guilty ransom himself from the torment of that Day by his children. 11 And his spouse and his brother 12 His kindred 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 That would skin 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 ۞ Surely man is greedy by nature. 19 bewailing when evil befalls him, 20 And niggardly when good touches him; 21 Not so are the prayerful. 22 Who are constant at their worship 23 and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them,] 24 for those that ask and those that are dispossessed, 25 who confirm the Day of Reckoning 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord. 27 for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord, 28 And those who guard their private parts 29 Except with their wives and the bondwomen in their possession, for there is no reproach on them. 30 (but whoso seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive 32 And those who stand by their testimony 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 They will live in gardens with honour. 35