The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
A questioner asked of a chastisement about to fall 1 (a chastisement meant) for the unbelievers, one which none can avert; 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 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 be like wool, 9 No loyal friend will ask another loyal friend 10 though they may be in one another's sight: [for,] everyone who was lost in sin will on that Day but desire to ransom himself from suffering at the price of his own children, 11 his wife, his brother, 12 the kinsmen who gave him shelter, 13 and all those on earth. 14 Never! That is indeed a blazing fire. 15 snatching away the scalp, 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 hoarded (wealth) and withheld it. 18 ۞ Verily man is formed impatient. 19 When evil comes upon him he is impatient; 20 and tight-fisted when good fortune visits him, 21 But not so the worshippers 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 believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 and are fearful of the punishment of their Lord; 27 (from their Lord's chastisement none feels secure) 28 those who preserve their chastity 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 whoso seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 (Those) who keep their trusts and their covenant, 32 and who stand firm whenever they bear witness; 33 And those who are mindful of their moral obligations. 34 Those shall be in gardens, honored. 35