The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
A questioner asked concerning a torment about to befall 1 Upon the disbelievers – the punishment that none can avert. 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 all the angels and all the inspiration [ever granted to man] ascend unto Him [daily,] in a day the length whereof is [like] fifty thousand years… 4 Therefore be patient, with a beautiful patience; 5 They see it [the Day of Judgement] to be far off, 6 And We behold it nigh. 7 The day when the sky will be like molten silver. 8 And the mountains will be like flakes of wool, 9 And no familiar friend will ask a question of his 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 wife and his brother 12 And the family in which he was. 13 and all the people of the earth, if that could deliver him. 14 No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell], 15 Taking away (burning completely) the head skin! 16 It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth), 17 and amass [wealth] and thereupon withhold [it from their fellow-men]. 18 ۞ Indeed man is created very impatient, greedy. 19 When evil toucheth him, he is bewailing. 20 and tight-fisted when good fortune visits him, 21 except those who are steadfast 22 Who are constant at their worship 23 And those in whose wealth there is a known right, 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 And those who accept the truth of the judgment day 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord, 28 And those who guard their chastity, 29 except from their spouses and those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock], for which they incur no blame -- 30 And whosoever seeketh beyond that, then it is those who are the trespassers 31 and who preserve their trusts and their covenant, 32 and standby their witnessing, 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 Those shall dwell in Gardens, honoured. 35