The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 Upon the infidels -- which none would be able to repel -- 2 (A Penalty) from Allah, Lord of the Ways of Ascent. 3 Whereby the angels ascend unto Him and also the spirit, On a Day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see. 5 Surely they think it to be far off, 6 but We see it near. 7 The Day that the sky will be like the boiling filth of oil, (or molten copper or silver or lead, etc.). 8 and the mountains shall be as plucked wool-tufts, 9 and no bosom friend will enquire about any of his bosom friends 10 Though they shall be made to see one another. Fain would the guilty ransom himself from the torment of that Day by his children. 11 His wife and his brother, 12 and of all the kinsfolk who ever sheltered him, 13 And all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. 14 By no means! for it would be the Fire of Hell!- 15 Flaying off the scalp-skin. 16 Calling: "[O Kafir (O disbeliever in Allah, His angels, His Book, His Messengers, Day of Resurrection and in Al-Qadar (Divine Preordainments), O Mushrik (O polytheist, disbeliever in the Oneness of Allah)] (all) such as turn their backs and turn away their faces (from Faith) [picking and swallowing them up from that great gathering of mankind (on the Day of Resurrection) just as a bird picks up a food-grain from the earth with its beak and swallows it up] [Tafsir Al-Qurtubi, Vol. 18, Page 289] 17 And collect (wealth) and hide it (from use)! 18 ۞ Human beings are created greedy. 19 Fretful when evil touches him; 20 If good comes to him he holds back his hand, 21 Except those devoted to Salat (prayers) 22 Who persevere in devotion, 23 those who give a due share of their wealth 24 For the beggar and the destitute. 25 And those who accept the truth of the judgment day 26 And those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord - 27 Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe - 28 And those who protect their private organs (from adultery). 29 except from their spouses and those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock], for which they incur no blame -- 30 But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors; 31 And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants, 32 And those who are in their testimonies upright 33 And those who keep a guard on their prayer, 34 These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured! 35