The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
Someone has (needlessly) demanded to experience the torment (of God), 1 The unbelievers-- there is none to avert it-- 2 From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways 3 all the angels and all the inspiration [ever granted to man] ascend unto Him [daily,] in a day the length whereof is [like] fifty thousand years… 4 Therefore, [O believers] behave with seemly patience. 5 They surely take it to be far away, 6 but We see it near at hand. 7 [It will take place] on a Day when the sky will be like molten lead, 8 And then the mountains shall become like unto wool dyed. 9 And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend, 10 (Though) they shall be made to see each other. The guilty one would fain redeem himself from the chastisement of that day by (sacrificing) his children, 11 And his spouse and his brother 12 and his kinsfolk who had stood by him, 13 And all those who are in the earth – then only if the redemption saves him! 14 But nay! Verily, all [that awaits him] is a raging flame, 15 It snatches away by the scalps, 16 and it shall call him who withdrew and turned his back 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Surely man was created fretful, 19 When they are afflicted, they complain, 20 And niggardly when good befalls him 21 Except those who pray, 22 Those who remain constant in their Salat (prayers); 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgment, 26 And those who are fearful of the chastisement of their Lord-- 27 Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe - 28 and guard their private parts 29 Save in regard to their spouses or those whom their right hands own; so verily they are not blameworthy 30 But whosoever seeks beyond that, they are the transgressors. 31 And those who are faithful to their trusts and their covenant 32 And those who are upright in their testimonies, 33 and who take due care of their Prayer: 34 Those are highly honored in the Gardens. 35