The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
One demanding, demanded the chastisement which must befall 1 To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer. 2 a chastisement from Allah, the Lord of the ascending steps, 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit (Gabriel) ascend in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore do thou hold Patience,- a Patience of beautiful (contentment). 5 Indeed, they see it [as] distant, 6 But We see it very near. 7 On the day when the heaven shall be as molten copper 8 And then the mountains shall become like unto wool dyed. 9 No loyal friend will ask another loyal friend 10 Though they shall be made to see one another. Fain would the guilty ransom himself from the torment of that Day by his children. 11 And his spouse and his brother 12 his kin who sheltered him, 13 and whosoever is in the earth, all together, so that then it might deliver him. 14 By no means! Surely it is a flaming fire 15 stripping away his skin, 16 It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth), 17 and amassed wealth and covetously hoarded it. 18 ۞ Human beings are created greedy. 19 When they are afflicted, they complain, 20 and whenever good fortune comes to him, he grows niggardly. 21 Not so are the prayerful. 22 Those who are regular in their prayers. 23 And those in whose wealth exists a recognised 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 And those who testify to the Day of Requital. 26 and are fearful of the punishment of their Lord; 27 for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord, 28 And those who preserve their chastity 29 except from their wives and what their right hands own, for these they are not blameworthy. 30 but those who go beyond that limit are transgressors; 31 And those who protect the property entrusted to them, and their agreements. 32 And those who are upright in their testimonies, 33 and who guard their prayers [from all worldly intent]. 34 such people will receive due honor in Paradise. 35