The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen 1 to those who deny the truth. No power can hinder God 2 from punishing them. He is the Lord of the Ascending Stairways, 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit mount up, in a day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 So persevere with becoming patience. 5 They see the (Day) indeed as a far-off (event): 6 but We see it to be very near. 7 [It will take place] on a Day when the sky will be like molten lead, 8 and the mountains will be like tufts of wool, 9 and [when] no friend will ask about his friend, 10 Though within sight of one another. The sinner would like to ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his sons, 11 And his wife and his brother 12 And the family in which he was. 13 And all those that are in the earth, (wishing) then (that) this might deliver him. 14 By no means! Verily, it will be the Fire of Hell! 15 Plucking out (his being) right to the skull!- 16 and it shall call him who withdrew and turned his back 17 And amasses (wealth) then shuts it up. 18 ۞ Surely man was created fretful, 19 Irritable (discontented) when evil touches him; 20 but when they are fortunate, they become niggardly 21 Except those who pray, 22 and are constant in their Prayer; 23 and those in whose wealth there is a known right 24 for such as ask [for help] and such as are deprived [of what is good in life]; 25 And those who hold to the truth of the Day of Judgment; 26 and who stand in dread of their Sustainer's chastisement 27 Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe - 28 And those who protect their private organs (from adultery). 29 except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed, 30 So those who desire more than this – it is they who are the transgressors. 31 and who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges: 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 dwell in Gardens, honoured. 35