The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
One demanding, demanded the chastisement which must befall 1 Upon the disbelievers, which none can avert, 2 from punishing them. He is the Lord of the Ascending Stairways, 3 On that Day (of Judgment), long as fifty thousand years, the angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him. 4 Therefore endure with a goodly patience. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 but We see it near. 7 On the Day the sky will be like murky oil, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 And no friend will ask of 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 And the nearest of his kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 and all persons of the earth, if only he could thus save himself. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 15 Flaying off the scalp-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 collect (wealth) and hide it (from use)! 18 ۞ Verily man is formed impatient. 19 [As a rule,] whenever misfortune touches him, he is filled with self-pity; 20 If good comes to him he holds back his hand, 21 But not so the worshippers 22 Who are constant at their worship 23 and those in whose wealth there is a known right 24 For those who beg, and for the needy who cannot even ask. 25 And those who believe the Day of Judgement to be true. 26 And those who are fearful of their Lord's doom - 27 (from their Lord's chastisement none feels secure) 28 and those who guard their private parts, 29 except from their spouses and those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock], for which they incur no blame -- 30 whereas such as seek to go beyond that [limit] are truly transgressors; 31 And those who respect their trusts and covenants; 32 And those who are firm upon their testimonies. 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 Those shall be in Gardens, high-honoured. 35