The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
A questioner asked of a chastisement about to fall 1 The unbelievers-- there is none to avert it-- 2 from God, the Lord of the 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 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something 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 The mountains like the tufts of (carded) wool, 9 And no friend will ask after a 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 And his wife and his brother. 12 And the nearest of his kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 And all, all that is on earth,- so it could deliver him: 14 By no means! for it would be the Fire of Hell!- 15 Dragging by the head, 16 It shall insistently summon him who turned his back and retreated, 17 And masseth and then hoardeth. 18 ۞ Surely man is greedy by nature. 19 When they are afflicted, they complain, 20 but when good comes upon him, he is grudging 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 who are constant in prayer; 23 and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them,] 24 For him who begs and for him who is denied (good) 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgement, 26 And those who are fearful of the chastisement of their Lord-- 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 those who preserve their chastity 29 Save in regard to their spouses or those whom their right hands own; so verily they are not blameworthy 30 And whosoever seeketh beyond that, then it is those who are the trespassers 31 And those who keep their trusts and covenants; 32 and who stand firm whenever they bear witness; 33 And those who are attentive at their worship. 34 Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise) honoured. 35