The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 Upon the disbelievers, which none can repel, 2 [since it will come] from God, unto whom there are many ways of ascent: 3 by which the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in one Day the duration of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So be patient with gracious patience. 5 They deem it to be remote. 6 But We see it (quite) near. 7 The day when the sky will be like molten silver. 8 And the hills will be light as wool. 9 And no friend inquires after 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 his companion wife, his brother, 12 And the nearest of his kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 and of whoever [else] lives on earth, all of them - so that he could but save himself. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 tearing away his 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 amassed (riches) and hoarded. 18 ۞ Verily man is formed impatient. 19 when evil visits him, impatient, 20 and tight-fisted when good fortune visits him, 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 [and] who incessantly persevere in their prayer 23 And those within whose wealth is a known right 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 And those who accept the truth of the judgment day 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord. 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 who guard their carnal desires 29 Except with their wives and the bondwomen in their possession, for there is no reproach on them. 30 And whosoever seeketh beyond that, then it is those who are the trespassers 31 And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies. 33 And those who keep a guard on their prayer, 34 They will live in gardens with honour. 35