70. Al-Ma'aarij

1 A questioner questioned concerning the doom about to fall

2 Upon the disbelievers, which none can repel

3 From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways

4 (Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years

5 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see

6 Lo! they behold it afar off

7 While we behold it nigh

8 The day when the sky will become as molten copper

9 And the hills become as flakes of wool

10 And no familiar friend will ask a question of his friend

11 Though they will be given sight of them. The guilty man will long to be able to ransom himself from the punishment of that day at the price of his children

12 And his spouse and his brother

13 And his kin that harboured him

14 And all that are in the earth, if then it might deliver him

15 But nay! for lo! it is the fire of hell

16 Eager to roast

17 It calleth him who turned and fled (from truth)

18 And hoarded (wealth) and withheld it

19 Lo! man was created anxious

20 Fretful when evil befalleth him

21 And, when good befalleth him, grudging

22 Save worshippers

23 Who are constant at their worship

24 And in whose wealth there is a right acknowledged

25 For the beggar and the destitute

26 And those who believe in the Day of Judgment

27 And those who are fearful of their Lord's doom

28 Lo! the doom of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure

29 And those who preserve their chastity

30 Save with their wives and those whom their right hands possess, for thus they are not blameworthy

31 But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors

32 And those who keep their pledges and their covenant

33 And those who stand by their testimony

34 And those who are attentive at their worship

35 These will dwell in Gardens, honoured

36 What aileth those who disbelieve, that they keep staring toward thee (O Muhammad), open-eyed

37 On the right and on the left, in groups

38 Doth every man among them hope to enter the Garden of Delight

39 Nay, verily. Lo! We created them from what they know

40 But nay! I swear by the Lord of the rising-places and the setting-places of the planets that We verily are Able

41 To replace them by (others) better than them. And we are not to be outrun

42 So let them chat and play until they meet their Day which they are promised

43 The day when they come forth from the graves in haste, as racing to a goal

44 With eyes aghast, abasement stupefying them: Such is the Day which they are promised