The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
A doubter once demanded that punishment be immediately meted out, 1 The unbelievers-- there is none to avert it-- 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 Whereby the angels ascend unto Him and also the spirit, On a Day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore endure with a goodly patience. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 But We see it (quite) near. 7 [It will take place] on a Day when the sky will be like molten lead, 8 and the mountains will become like tufts of wool, 9 and [when] no friend will ask about his friend, 10 though they are in sight of each other. To ransom himself from the punishment of that Day, the sinner will wish that he might even ransom himself by his sons, 11 And his wife and his brother. 12 And his family who had stood by him, 13 and whosoever is in the earth, altogether, so that it might save him. 14 But never. It is pure white flame 15 Eager to roast; 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 masseth and then hoardeth. 18 ۞ Indeed, mankind was created anxious: 19 When evil touches him, impatient, 20 And when good touches him, withholding [of it], 21 But not so the worshippers 22 who are steadfast in prayer; 23 And those in whose wealth there is a fixed portion. 24 For the beggar and the destitute. 25 who confirm the Day of Reckoning 26 and are fearful of the punishment of their Lord; 27 Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- 28 and who are mindful of their chastity, 29 save from their wives and what their right hands own, then not being blameworthy 30 But whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors - 31 And those who keep their trusts and covenants; 32 And those who are in their testimonies upright 33 and who are constant in their prayers. 34 They will be in gardens, honored. 35