70
70. Al-Ma'arij - The Ways of Ascent
| 1 | AN INQUIRER ASKED for the affliction that is to come |
| 2 | Upon the infidels -- which none would be able to repel -- |
| 3 | From God, the Lord of the steps (of progression), |
| 4 | To whom the angels and the soul take a day to ascend, whose length is fifty thousand years. |
| 5 | So persevere with becoming patience. |
| 6 | They surely take it to be far away, |
| 7 | But We see it very near. |
| 8 | The day the sky becomes like molten brass, |
| 9 | The mountains like the tufts of (carded) wool, |
| 10 | And no friend inquires after friend |
| 11 | Though within sight of one another. The sinner would like to ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his sons, |
| 12 | His wife and his brother, |
| 13 | And his family who had stood by him, |
| 14 | And all those who are on the earth, to save himself. |
| 15 | But never. It is pure white flame |
| 16 | That would skin the scalp. |
| 17 | It will summon whoever turns his back and flees, |
| 18 | Who amasses and then hoards. |
| 19 | Surely man is greedy by nature. |
| 20 | If evil befalls him he is perturbed; |
| 21 | If good comes to him he holds back his hand, |
| 22 | Except those who closely follow (the Book of God), |
| 23 | Who persevere in devotion, |
| 24 | In whose wealth a due share is included |
| 25 | For the needy and those dispossessed, |
| 26 | And those who believe in the Day of Judgement, |
| 27 | And those who fear the punishment of their Lord, -- |
| 28 | Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- |
| 29 | And those who guard their sex except from their wives and women slaves of old |
| 30 | Are free of blame, |
| 31 | But those who seek more than this will be transgressors; |
| 32 | And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants, |
| 33 | Who uphold their testimonies, |
| 34 | And those who are mindful of their moral obligations. |
| 35 | They will live in gardens with honour. |
| 36 | What is the matter with unbelievers that they stare at you with fixed gazes and hasten towards you |
| 37 | In crowds, right and left? |
| 38 | Does every one of them wish to enter the garden of tranquility? |
| 39 | Never so. We have created them from what they know. |
| 40 | So I swear by the Lord of the Easts and the Wests that We are certainly able |
| 41 | To bring better people than they in their place; and they will not be able to thwart Us. |
| 42 | So leave them to their vain disputes and amusement till they meet their day (of reckoning) promised them, |
| 43 | The day when they will come out of their graves in all haste as though rushing to their altars, |
| 44 | Eyes lowered, shame attending. That is the day they have been promised! |