The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Someone has (needlessly) demanded to experience the torment (of God), 1 The infidels, of which there is no averter. 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 be patient, with a beautiful patience; 5 they see it as being far off; 6 but We see it to be very near. 7 On that Day the heaven shall become like molten copper, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 and [when] no friend will ask about his friend, 10 Though within sight of one another. The sinner would like to ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his sons, 11 His wife and his brother, 12 the kinsmen who gave him shelter, 13 and of whoever [else] lives on earth, all of them - so that he could but save himself. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 A remover of exteriors. 16 It invites he who turned his back [on truth] and went away [from obedience] 17 And hoarded (wealth) and withheld it. 18 ۞ Surely man is created of a hasty temperament 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 And niggardly when good befalls him 21 But not so the worshippers 22 Those who remain constant in their Salat (prayers); 23 And those in whose wealth exists a recognised right, 24 For those who beg, and for the needy who cannot even ask. 25 And those who testify to the Day of Requital. 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord, -- 27 For their Lord's displeasure is the opposite of Peace and Tranquillity;- 28 those who preserve their chastity 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, then it is those who are trespassers. 31 And those who keep their pledges and their covenant, 32 and perform their witnessings, 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 Those shall dwell in Gardens, honoured. 35