The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Someone has (needlessly) demanded to experience the torment (of God), 1 for the unbelievers, which none may avert, 2 No one can defend him against God, the Lord of the exalted positions. 3 Whereby the angels ascend unto Him and also the spirit, On a Day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believers] behave with seemly patience. 5 They see the (Day) indeed as a far-off (event): 6 but We see it to be very near. 7 It shall befall on a Day whereon the sky will become like molten brass, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 even intimate friends will not inquire about their friends, 10 Though within sight of one another. The sinner would like to ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his sons, 11 His wife and his brother, 12 his kinsmen who gave him refuge (from hardship) 13 And whoever is on earth entirely [so] then it could save him. 14 Never! That is indeed a blazing fire. 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 And collected [wealth] and hoarded. 18 ۞ Surely man was created fretful, 19 Irritable (discontented) when evil touches him; 20 And refraining, when good reaches him. 21 But not so the worshippers 22 Those who remain steadfast to their prayer; 23 and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them,] 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 in the Day of Judgment, 26 and are fearful of the punishment of their Lord; 27 for, behold, of their Sustainer's chastisement none may ever feel [wholly] secure; 28 And those who of their private parts are guards. 29 [not giving way to their desires] with any but their spouses - that is, those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock]: for then, behold, they are free of all blame, 30 but any who seeks to go beyond that, it is indeed they who are the transgressors, 31 who honor their trust and promises, 32 and those who stand by their testimony 33 And those who of their prayer are observant. 34 Those shall be in gardens, honored. 35