The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
A requester seeks the punishment that will take place – 1 to those who deny the truth. No power can hinder God 2 from punishing them. He is the Lord of the Ascending Stairways, 3 To whom the angels and the soul take a day to ascend, whose length is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore do thou hold Patience,- a Patience of beautiful (contentment). 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something 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 familiar friend will ask a question of his friend 10 although they shall be within sight of one another. The guilty one would fain ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his children, 11 His wife and his brother, 12 his kin who sheltered him, 13 And all those that are in the earth, (wishing) then (that) this might deliver him. 14 But nay! for lo! it is the fire of hell 15 Flaying off the scalp-skin. 16 It will claim all such as turn their backs [on what is right,] and turn away [from the truth,] 17 and amassed wealth and hoarded it. 18 ۞ Surely man is greedy by nature. 19 when evil visits him, impatient, 20 And niggardly when good befalls him 21 save those that pray 22 Those who are constant at their prayer 23 And those within whose wealth is a known right 24 For the petitioner and the deprived - 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 Verily the torment of their Lord is not a thing to feel secure from. 28 And those who preserve their chastity 29 except in regard to their spouses and those whom their right hands possess, for in regard to them they are not reproachable, 30 But he who seeks to go beyond this, these it is that go beyond the limits-- 31 And those who keep their pledges and their covenant, 32 And those who are upright in their testimonies, 33 And those who keep a guard on their prayer, 34 Those shall be in Gardens, high-honoured. 35