The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
A beseecher besought the visitation of chastisement, 1 The unbelievers-- there is none to avert it-- 2 From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways 3 Whereby the angels ascend unto Him and also the spirit, On a Day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 Wherefore be thou patient with a becoming patience. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 but, We see it as near! 7 On the day when the heavens become like molten metal. 8 and the mountains become like wool, 9 And no friend will ask 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 wife, his brother, 12 His kindred who sheltered him, 13 And all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. 14 By no means! For the raging flames of the fire 15 Dragging by the head, 16 It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth), 17 And accumulated wealth and hoarded it. 18 ۞ Surely man is created of a hasty temperament 19 bewailing when evil befalls him, 20 but when good comes upon him, he is grudging 21 except those that pray 22 [and] who incessantly persevere in their prayer 23 And those in whose wealth exists a recognised right, 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord, -- 27 Verily! The torment of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure, 28 who guard their privates 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 whosoever seeks beyond that, they are the transgressors. 31 (Those) who keep their trusts and their covenant, 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies. 33 and who take due care of their Prayer: 34 These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured! 35