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 for the unbelievers, which none may avert, 2 From Allah, Owner of the ascending steps. 3 by which the angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him in one Day which will last for fifty thousand years. 4 So be patient with gracious patience. 5 Surely they think it to be far off, 6 But We see it very near. 7 On that Day the heavens shall become like molten brass, 8 and the mountains will become like tufts of wool, 9 And no friend will ask concerning his 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 companion wife, his brother, 12 his kinsmen who gave him refuge (from hardship) 13 And all those who are in the earth – then only if the redemption saves him! 14 But no! There is a raging blaze 15 That would skin the scalp. 16 It calls out to him who reverted and turned away. 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Indeed, mankind was created anxious: 19 when misfortune touches him he starts lamenting, 20 and whenever good fortune comes to him, he grows niggardly. 21 But not so the worshippers 22 and are constant in their Prayer; 23 And those in whose wealth exists a recognised right, 24 for the beggar and the outcast, 25 And those who believe the Day of Judgement to be true. 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 of their private parts are guards. 29 except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed, 30 But whosoever seeks beyond that, they are the transgressors. 31 and those who fulfil their trusts and their covenants, 32 who testify to what they have witnessed, 33 And those who guard their Salat (prayers) well. 34 These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured! 35