The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
A questioner asked of a chastisement about to fall 1 those who deny the truth. [Know, then, that] nothing can ward it off, 2 [since it will come] from God, unto whom there are many ways of ascent: 3 Whereby the angels ascend unto Him and also the spirit, On a Day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore be patient, with a beautiful patience; 5 Verily they behold it afar off. 6 And We behold it nigh. 7 On that Day the heavens shall become like molten brass, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 And no friend will ask after a friend, 10 although they shall be within sight of one another. The guilty one would fain ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his children, 11 And his spouse and his brother. 12 And his nearest kindred who shelter him 13 And all, all that is on earth,- so it could deliver him: 14 No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell], 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 ۞ Surely man is created of a hasty temperament 19 bewailing when evil befalls him, 20 and tight-fisted when good fortune visits him, 21 save those that pray 22 who are constant in prayer; 23 And those in whose wealth there is a fixed portion. 24 For the beggar and the destitute. 25 those who firmly believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 for, behold, of their Sustainer's chastisement none may ever feel [wholly] secure; 28 And those who protect their private organs (from adultery). 29 except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed, 30 but any who seeks to go beyond that, it is indeed they who are the transgressors, 31 And those who protect the property entrusted to them, and their agreements. 32 and who stand firm whenever they bear witness; 33 And those who guard (the sacredness) of their worship;- 34 Those shall be in gardens, honored. 35