The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AN INQUIRER ASKED for the affliction that is to come 1 which will inevitably seize the disbelievers. 2 From Allah, the Lord of all pinnacles. 3 Whereby the angels ascend unto Him and also the spirit, On a Day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 (Muhammad), exercise patience with no complaints. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 but We see it near at hand. 7 The Day that the sky will be like the boiling filth of oil, (or molten copper or silver or lead, etc.). 8 and the mountains will become like tufts of wool, 9 And not a friend shall ask a 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 his wife, his brother, 12 his kinsmen who gave him refuge (from hardship) 13 and all those on earth. 14 No! Indeed, it is the Flame [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 amasses and then hoards. 18 ۞ Surely man was created fretful, 19 Fretful when evil touches him; 20 If good comes to him he holds back his hand, 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 Who are constant at their worship 23 They are those who assign a certain share of their property 24 For the petitioner and the deprived - 25 And those who believe the Day of Judgement to be true. 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 and guard their private parts 29 Save in regard to their spouses or those whom their right hands own; so verily they are not blameworthy 30 But whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors - 31 and who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges: 32 and standby their witnessing, 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 Those shall dwell in Gardens, honoured. 35