The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Someone has (needlessly) demanded to experience the torment (of God), 1 those who deny the truth. [Know, then, that] nothing can ward it off, 2 from punishing them. He is the Lord of the Ascending Stairways, 3 by which the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in one Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore endure with a goodly patience. 5 They surely take it to be far away, 6 but, We see it as near! 7 It shall befall on a Day whereon the sky will become like molten brass, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 And no friend will ask of a friend, 10 though they shall be within sight of each other. The guilty one will gladly ransom himself from the torment of that Day by sacrificing his own children, 11 his companion wife, his brother, 12 And his kin that sheltered him. 13 And all those who are in the earth – then only if the redemption saves him! 14 By no means! Surely it is a flaming fire 15 Dragging by the head, 16 and drag into it anyone who has turned away (from obeying God), 17 and amassed wealth and hoarded it. 18 ۞ Indeed, man is born impatient: 19 [As a rule,] whenever misfortune touches him, he is filled with self-pity; 20 And when good toucheth him he is begrudging. 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 who are constant in prayer; 23 And those in whose wealth there is a known right, 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 those who firmly believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 and go in fear of the punishment of their Lord, 27 Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- 28 And those who guard their private parts, 29 Save with their wives and those whom their right hands possess, for thus they are not blameworthy; 30 So those who desire more than this – it is they who are the transgressors. 31 And those who keep their pledges and their covenant, 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies. 33 and who are constant in their prayers. 34 They will be honoured in the Gardens of Bliss. 35