The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
A doubter once demanded that punishment be immediately meted out, 1 the unbelievers which none can prevent. 2 From Allah, Owner of the ascending steps. 3 The angels and Jibreel, ascend towards Him – the punishment will befall on a day which spans fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believer,] endure all adversity with goodly patience: 5 Verily they think that the chastisement is far off, 6 but We see it near. 7 The day the sky becomes like molten brass, 8 and the mountains will become like dyed 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 and of his spouse, and of his brother, 12 And his family who had stood by him, 13 and of whoever [else] lives on earth, all of them - so that he could but save himself. 14 By no means! For the raging flames of the fire 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 amassed wealth and covetously hoarded it. 18 ۞ Indeed, mankind was created anxious: 19 Being greatly grieved when evil afflicts him 20 And niggardly when good befalls him 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 Those who are regular in their prayers. 23 And those in whose wealth is a recognised right. 24 For the needy and those dispossessed, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgement, 26 and fear the chastisement of their Lord – 27 (from their Lord's chastisement none feels secure) 28 And those who guard their private parts, 29 except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed, 30 But those who trespass beyond this are transgressors;- 31 And those who protect the property entrusted to them, and their agreements. 32 and those who are upright in their testimonies; 33 And those who keep a guard on their prayer, 34 It is these who will be honoured in Gardens. 35