The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
A doubter once demanded that punishment be immediately meted out, 1 The Unbelievers, the which there is none to ward off,- 2 From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways 3 by which the angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him in one Day which will last for fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believer,] endure all adversity with goodly patience: 5 Indeed, they see it [as] distant, 6 While we behold it nigh: 7 On the day when the heavens become like molten metal. 8 And the mountains will be like flakes of wool, 9 And no friend inquires after friend 10 though they are in sight of each other. To ransom himself from the punishment of that Day, the sinner will wish that he might even ransom himself by his sons, 11 his wife, his brother, 12 And his nearest kindred who shelter him 13 And all those who are on the earth, to save himself. 14 No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell], 15 Plucking out (his being) right to the skull!- 16 It will summon whoever turns his back and flees, 17 And masseth and then hoardeth. 18 ۞ Human beings are created greedy. 19 when misfortune touches him he starts lamenting, 20 And when good toucheth him he is begrudging. 21 Not so are the prayerful. 22 Those who remain steadfast to their prayer; 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 24 For the beggar and the destitute; 25 who confirm the Day of Reckoning 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord. 27 Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- 28 And those who guard their sex except from their wives and women slaves of old 29 except in regard to their spouses and those whom their right hands possess, for in regard to them they are not reproachable, 30 but any who seeks to go beyond that, it is indeed they who are the transgressors, 31 and those who fulfil their trusts and their covenants, 32 who testify to what they have witnessed, 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 Those shall be in gardens, honored. 35