The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
A questioner asked concerning a torment about to befall 1 Upon the disbelievers – the punishment that none can avert. 2 (A Penalty) from Allah, Lord of the Ways of Ascent. 3 The angels and the spirit ascend unto him in a Day the measure whereof is (as) fifty thousand years: 4 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 But We see it [as] 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 will become like tufts of wool, 9 And no familiar friend will ask a question of his friend 10 They will be seeing them; the guilty will wish if only he could redeem himself from the punishment of that day, by offering his sons. 11 And his spouse and his brother. 12 And his family who had stood by him, 13 and all persons of the earth, if only he could thus save himself. 14 By no means! Surely it is a flaming fire 15 Plucking out (his being) right to the skull!- 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 amasses (wealth) then shuts it up. 18 ۞ Indeed man is created very impatient, greedy. 19 Irritable (discontented) when evil touches him; 20 but when they are fortunate, they become niggardly 21 except those that pray, 22 Those who are constant at their prayer 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 24 For the beggar who asks, and for the unlucky who has lost his property and wealth, (and his means of living has been straitened); 25 and who accept as true the [coming of the] Day of Judgment; 26 and who stand in dread of their Sustainer's chastisement 27 for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord, 28 who guard their privates 29 Except with their wives and the bondwomen in their possession, for there is no reproach on them. 30 whereas such as seek to go beyond that [limit] are truly transgressors; 31 and who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges: 32 and who stand firm whenever they bear witness; 33 and are steadfast in their prayers. 34 all these shall live honourably in the Gardens. 35