The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
AN INQUIRER ASKED for the affliction that is to come 1 those who deny the truth. [Know, then, that] nothing can ward it off, 2 (A punishment) from Allah, the Owner of the Elevated Passages. 3 To Him ascend the angels and the Spirit in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believers] behave with seemly patience. 5 Verily they behold it afar off. 6 And We see it nigh. 7 Upon the day when heaven shall be as molten copper 8 and the mountains will become like dyed tufts of wool, 9 And no friend will ask after a friend, 10 although they shall be within sight of one another. The guilty one would fain ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his children, 11 His wife and his brother, 12 And his nearest kindred who shelter him 13 and all persons of the earth, if only he could thus save himself. 14 By no means! For the raging flames of the fire 15 stripping away his skin, 16 and drag into it anyone who has turned away (from obeying God), 17 and amassed wealth and hoarded it. 18 ۞ Indeed, man is born impatient: 19 Fretful when evil befalleth him 20 And niggardly when good touches him; 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 and continue at their prayers, 23 And those in whose riches is a known right. 24 For the (needy) who asks and him who is prevented (for some reason from asking); 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgement, 26 And those who are fearful of the chastisement of their Lord-- 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 And those who protect their private organs (from adultery). 29 Except in the case of their wives or those whom their right hands possess-- for these surely are not to be blamed, 30 but those who go beyond that limit are transgressors; 31 who honor their trust and promises, 32 And those who are upright in their testimonies, 33 And those who protect their prayers. 34 These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured! 35