The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen 1 The Unbelievers, the which there is none to ward off,- 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 (Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years. 4 Wherefore be thou patient with a becoming patience. 5 They see it [the Day of Judgement] to be far off, 6 While we behold it nigh: 7 The Day that the sky will be like the boiling filth of oil, (or molten copper or silver or lead, etc.). 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 And no familiar friend will ask a question of his 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 wife and his brother, 12 the kinsmen who gave him shelter, 13 and whosoever is in the earth, all together, so that then it might deliver him. 14 No! Indeed, it is the Flame [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 When they are afflicted, they complain, 20 And when good touches him, withholding [of it], 21 except those who are steadfast 22 and are constant in their Prayer; 23 and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them,] 24 for those that ask and those that are dispossessed, 25 And those who hold to the truth of the Day of Judgment; 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 who guard their carnal desires 29 Except in the case of their wives or those whom their right hands possess-- for these surely are not to be blamed, 30 But he who seeks to go beyond this, these it is that go beyond the limits-- 31 and those who fulfil their trusts and their covenants, 32 And those who are firm upon their testimonies. 33 and are steadfast in their prayers. 34 They will be in gardens, honored. 35