سورة Al-Ma'arij (The Ways of Ascent )

AN INQUIRER ASKED for the affliction that is to come

Upon the infidels -- which none would be able to repel --

From God, the Lord of the steps (of progression),

To whom the angels and the soul take a day to ascend, whose length is fifty thousand years.

So persevere with becoming patience.

They surely take it to be far away,

But We see it very near.

The day the sky becomes like molten brass,

The mountains like the tufts of (carded) wool,

And no friend inquires after friend

Though within sight of one another. The sinner would like to ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his sons,

His wife and his brother,

And his family who had stood by him,

And all those who are on the earth, to save himself.

But never. It is pure white flame

That would skin the scalp.

It will summon whoever turns his back and flees,

Who amasses and then hoards.

Surely man is greedy by nature.

If evil befalls him he is perturbed;

If good comes to him he holds back his hand,

Except those who closely follow (the Book of God),

Who persevere in devotion,

In whose wealth a due share is included

For the needy and those dispossessed,

And those who believe in the Day of Judgement,

And those who fear the punishment of their Lord, --

Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, --

And those who guard their sex except from their wives and women slaves of old

Are free of blame,

But those who seek more than this will be transgressors;

And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants,

Who uphold their testimonies,

And those who are mindful of their moral obligations.

They will live in gardens with honour.

What is the matter with unbelievers that they stare at you with fixed gazes and hasten towards you

In crowds, right and left?

Does every one of them wish to enter the garden of tranquility?

Never so. We have created them from what they know.

So I swear by the Lord of the Easts and the Wests that We are certainly able

To bring better people than they in their place; and they will not be able to thwart Us.

So leave them to their vain disputes and amusement till they meet their day (of reckoning) promised them,

The day when they will come out of their graves in all haste as though rushing to their altars,

Eyes lowered, shame attending. That is the day they have been promised!