The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
A questioner asked of a chastisement about to fall 1 The unbelievers-- there is none to avert it-- 2 From Allah, the Lord of the ways of Ascent. 3 The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years. 4 Wherefore be thou patient with a becoming patience. 5 Verily they think that the chastisement is far off, 6 but We see it near at hand. 7 It shall befall on a Day whereon the sky will become like molten brass, 8 And the mountains shall be as tufts of wool 9 And no friend will ask of a friend, 10 as they are given sight of them. The sinner will wish that he might ransom himself from the chastisement of that day even by his sons, 11 And his spouse and his brother 12 And his kin that harboured him 13 and of whoever [else] lives on earth, all of them - so that he could but save himself. 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 hoarded (wealth) and withheld it. 18 ۞ Truly man was created very impatient;- 19 When they are afflicted, they complain, 20 And niggardly when good befalls him 21 except those who are steadfast 22 Those who are regular in their prayers. 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 24 For the beggar and the destitute; 25 who acknowledge the Day of Judgment, 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- 28 who guard their carnal desires 29 except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed, 30 but whoever goes beyond this is a transgressor; 31 And those who keep their pledges and their covenant, 32 and those who stand by their testimony 33 and who guard their prayers [from all worldly intent]. 34 They will be honoured in the Gardens of Bliss. 35