The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
AN INQUIRER ASKED for the affliction that is to come 1 the unbelievers which none can prevent. 2 [since it will come] from God, unto whom there are many ways of ascent: 3 by which the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in one Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believers] behave with seemly patience. 5 They think that it (the Day of Judgment) is far away. 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 hills become as flakes of wool, 9 And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend, 10 They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children 11 his companion (wife), his brother, 12 And his kindred who sheltered him, 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 snatching away the scalp, 16 It shall insistently summon him who turned his back and retreated, 17 Who amasses and then hoards. 18 ۞ Surely man was created fretful, 19 Irritable (discontented) when evil touches him; 20 And niggardly when good reaches him;- 21 except those that pray 22 Those who remain steadfast to their prayer; 23 And those in whose wealth exists a recognised right, 24 For those who beg, and for the needy who cannot even ask. 25 who acknowledge the Day of Judgment, 26 who are afraid of the torment of their Lord, 27 (from their Lord's chastisement none feels secure) 28 who guard their privates 29 [not giving way to their desires] with any but their spouses - that is, those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock]: for then, behold, they are free of all blame, 30 but any who seeks to go beyond that, it is indeed they who are the transgressors, 31 And those who protect the property entrusted to them, and their agreements. 32 and standby their witnessing, 33 and are steadfast in their prayers. 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35