Surah The Ascending stairways [Al-Maarij] in English

A beseecher besought the visitation of chastisement,

(a chastisement meant) for the unbelievers, one which none can avert;

a chastisement from Allah, the Lord of the ascending steps,

by which the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in one Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years.

So, (O Prophet), persevere with gracious perseverance.

Verily they think that the chastisement is far off,

while We think that it is near at hand.

It shall befall on a Day whereon the sky will become like molten brass,

and the mountains will become like dyed tufts of wool,

and no bosom friend will enquire about any of his bosom friends

although they shall be within sight of one another. The guilty one would fain ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his children,

and his spouse and his brother,

and his kinsfolk who had stood by him,

and all persons of the earth, if only he could thus save himself.

By no means! It will be the fierce flame

that will strip off the scalp.

It shall insistently summon him who turned his back and retreated,

and amassed wealth and covetously hoarded it.

Verily man is impatient by nature:

bewailing when evil befalls him,

and tight-fisted when good fortune visits him,

except those that pray,

and are constant in their Prayer;

and those in whose wealth there is a known right

for those that ask and those that are dispossessed,

those who firmly believe in the Day of Recompense,

and fear the chastisement of their Lord –

surely the chastisement of their Lord is a thing none can feel secure from –

and those who guard their private parts,

except in regard to their spouses and those whom their right hands possess, for in regard to them they are not reproachable,

but any who seeks to go beyond that, it is indeed they who are the transgressors,

and those who fulfil their trusts and their covenants,

and those who are upright in their testimonies;

and who take due care of their Prayer:

all these shall live honourably in the Gardens.

But what is the matter with the unbelievers who are hurrying towards you

in crowds, both on the right and on the left?

Does everyone of them wish to enter the Garden of Bliss?

By no means! They know that which We have created them from.

I swear by the Lord of the easts and the wests that We have the power

to replace them by others who would be better than they; and We shall certainly not be overpowered.

So leave them to engage in vain talk and to amuse themselves until they come face to face with the Day which they are promised,

the Day on which they will hastily come forth from their graves, as though they were hurrying on to the altars of their deities.