The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
There hath asked an asker for the torment about to befall. 1 Upon the infidels -- which none would be able to repel -- 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 The angels and Jibreel, ascend towards Him – the punishment will befall on a day which spans fifty thousand years. 4 So be patient with gracious patience. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 But We see it (quite) near. 7 It shall befall on a Day whereon the sky will become like molten brass, 8 And the mountains will be like flakes of wool, 9 and no friend will ask about his 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 And his kin that harboured him 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 Plucking out (his being) right to the skull!- 16 and drag into it anyone who has turned away (from obeying God), 17 and amassed wealth and covetously hoarded it. 18 ۞ VERILY, man is born with a restless disposition. 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 And when good toucheth him he is begrudging. 21 Except those devoted to Salat (prayers) 22 who are constant in prayer; 23 And those in whose riches is a known right. 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 who acknowledge the Day of Judgment, 26 And those who are fearful of the chastisement of their Lord-- 27 for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord, 28 who guard their carnal desires 29 Except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess,- for (then) they are not to be blamed, 30 But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors; 31 And those who are faithful to their trusts and their covenant 32 and standby their witnessing, 33 And those who of their prayer are observant. 34 These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured! 35