The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 The unbelievers-- there is none to avert it-- 2 From Allah, the Lord of the ways of ascent. 3 (Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years. 4 So persevere with becoming patience. 5 Lo! they behold it afar off 6 But We see it very near. 7 On that Day the heavens shall become like molten brass, 8 The mountains like the tufts of (carded) wool, 9 And no familiar friend will ask a question of his friend 10 (Though) they shall be made to see each other. The guilty one would fain redeem himself from the chastisement of that day by (sacrificing) his children, 11 And his wife and his brother, 12 and his kinsfolk who had stood by him, 13 And all those who are in the earth – then only if the redemption saves him! 14 By no means! for it would be the Fire of Hell!- 15 A remover of exteriors. 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 who amassed and hoarded. 18 ۞ Verily man is formed impatient. 19 When evil comes upon him he is impatient; 20 but when they are fortunate, they become niggardly 21 except those that pray, 22 Those who are constant in their prayer 23 In whose wealth a due share is included 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 those who believe the Day of Judgement to be true. 26 And those who are fearful of the chastisement of their Lord-- 27 Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- 28 And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts from illegal sexual acts). 29 except from their wives and what their right hands own, for these they are not blameworthy. 30 So those who desire more than this – it is they who are the transgressors. 31 and who preserve their trusts and their covenant, 32 And those who are firm upon their testimonies. 33 And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer: 34 Those shall dwell in Gardens, honoured. 35