An asker asked for a punishment bound to befall
—which none can avert from the faithless—
from Allah, Lord of the lofty stations
The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in a day whose span is fifty thousand years
So be patient, with a patience that is graceful
Indeed they see it to be far off
and We see it to be near
The day when the sky will be like molten copper
and the mountains like [tufts of] dyed wool
and no friend will inquire about [the welfare of his] friend
[though] they will be placed within each other’s sight. The guilty one will wish he could ransom himself from the punishment of that day at the price of his children
his spouse and his brother
his kin which had sheltered hi
and all those who are upon the earth, if that might deliver him
Never! Indeed it is a blazing fire
which strips away the scalp
It invites him who has turned back [from the truth] and forsaken [it]
amassing [wealth] and hoarding [it]
Indeed man has been created covetous
anxious when an ill befalls hi
and grudging when good comes his wa
—[all are such] except the prayerful
those who are persevering in their prayer
and in whose wealth there is a known right
for the beggar and the deprived
and who affirm the Day of Retribution
and those who are apprehensive of the punishment of their Lord
(there is indeed no security from the punishment of their Lord
and those who guard their private part
(except from their spouses and their slave women, for then they are not blameworthy
but whoever seeks beyond that —it is they who are the transgressors
and those who keep their trusts and covenants
and those who are observant of their testimonies
and those who are watchful of their prayers
They will be in gardens, held in honour
What is the matter with the faithless that they scramble toward yo
from the left and the right in batches
Does each man among them hope to enter the garden of bliss
Never! Indeed We created them from what they know
So I swear by the Lord of the easts and the wests that We are abl
to replace them by [others] better than them and We are not to be outmaneuvered
So leave them to gossip and play until they encounter their day, which they are promised
the day when they emerge from the graves, hastening, as if racing toward a target
with a humbled look [in their eyes], overcast by abasement. That is the day they had been promised