The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
A questioner asked of a chastisement about to fall 1 (a chastisement meant) for the unbelievers, one which none can avert; 2 [It is] from Allah, owner of the ways of ascent. 3 all the angels and all the inspiration [ever granted to man] ascend unto Him [daily,] in a day the length whereof is [like] fifty thousand years… 4 Therefore do thou hold Patience,- a Patience of beautiful (contentment). 5 Verily they think that the chastisement is far off, 6 But We see it (quite) near. 7 Upon the day when heaven shall be as molten copper 8 And the mountains shall be as tufts of wool 9 And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend, 10 They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children 11 And his wife and his brother, 12 his kin who sheltered him, 13 And all those who are in the earth – then only if the redemption saves him! 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 It snatches away by the scalps, 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 ۞ Indeed, man is born impatient: 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 And niggardly when good befalls him 21 Save worshippers. 22 [and] who incessantly persevere in their prayer 23 They are those who assign a certain share of their property 24 for those that ask and those that are dispossessed, 25 who acknowledge the Day of Judgment, 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord, -- 27 Verily! The torment of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure, 28 those who preserve their chastity 29 Save in regard to their spouses or those whom their right hands own; so verily they are not blameworthy 30 So those who desire more than this – it is they who are the transgressors. 31 And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants, 32 and perform their witnessings, 33 And those who keep a guard on their prayer, 34 Those shall be in Gardens, high-honoured. 35