The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
One demanding, demanded the chastisement which must befall 1 Upon the disbelievers – the punishment that none can avert. 2 [since it will come] from God, unto whom there are many ways of ascent: 3 (Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believers] behave with seemly patience. 5 Lo! they behold it afar off 6 But We see it [as] near. 7 [It will take place] on a Day when the sky will be like molten lead, 8 and the mountains will become like dyed tufts of wool, 9 No loyal friend will ask another loyal friend 10 Though they will be put in sight of each other,- the sinner's desire will be: Would that he could redeem himself from the Penalty of that Day by (sacrificing) his children, 11 His wife and his brother, 12 his kin who sheltered him, 13 and of whoever [else] lives on earth, all of them - so that he could but save himself. 14 But no! There is a raging blaze 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 who amassed and hoarded. 18 ۞ VERILY, man is born with a restless disposition. 19 When they are afflicted, they complain, 20 And, when good befalleth him, grudging; 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 Who are constant at their worship 23 And those in whose wealth exists a recognised right, 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 who accept as true the [coming of the] Day of Judgment; 26 And those who fear 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 except from their wives and what their right hands own, for these they are not blameworthy. 30 But whosoever seeks beyond that, then it is those who are trespassers. 31 and who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges: 32 And those who stand by their testimony 33 and who guard their prayers [from all worldly intent]. 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35