The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
A caller supplicated about a punishment to fall on 1 The Unbelievers, the which there is none to ward off,- 2 from punishing them. He is the Lord of the Ascending Stairways, 3 The angels and Jibreel, ascend towards Him – the punishment will befall on a day which spans fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believers] behave with seemly patience. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 While we behold it nigh: 7 The day the sky becomes like molten brass, 8 And then the mountains shall become like unto wool dyed. 9 And no friend will ask after a 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 of his spouse, and of his brother, 12 and his kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 And all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. 14 By no means! for it would be the Fire of Hell!- 15 that will strip off the scalp. 16 and it will claim all those who turned their backs [on the true faith] and turned away [from the truth], 17 and amassed wealth and hoarded it. 18 ۞ Indeed, man is born impatient: 19 Being greatly grieved when evil afflicts him 20 If good comes to him he holds back his hand, 21 But not so the worshippers 22 Who are at their prayer constant. 23 and those in whose wealth there is a known right 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgement, 26 And those who fear the displeasure of their Lord,- 27 For their Lord's displeasure is the opposite of Peace and Tranquillity;- 28 And those who guard their sex except from their wives and women slaves of old 29 Except with their wives and the (women slaves and captives) whom their right hands possess, for (then) 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 and standby their witnessing, 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 Those are highly honored in the Gardens. 35