The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 The infidels, of which there is no averter. 2 from punishing them. He is the Lord of the Ascending Stairways, 3 all the angels and all the inspiration [ever granted to man] ascend unto Him [daily,] in a day the length whereof is [like] fifty thousand years… 4 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see. 5 Surely they think it to be far off, 6 While we behold it nigh: 7 The day when the sky will be like molten silver. 8 and the mountains become like wool, 9 and [when] no friend will ask about his friend, 10 Though they will be given sight of them. The guilty man will long to be able to ransom himself from the punishment of that day at the price of his children 11 And his wife and his brother 12 and his kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 And all, all that is on earth,- so it could deliver him: 14 No, in truth, it is a Furnace! 15 A remover of exteriors. 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 ۞ Lo! man was created anxious, 19 Very nervous when touched by misfortune. 20 And when good toucheth him he is begrudging. 21 But not so the worshippers 22 Those who remain constant in their Salat (prayers); 23 And those in whose riches is a known right. 24 For the needy and those dispossessed, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense 26 and who stand in dread of their Sustainer's chastisement 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 with their wives and the (women slaves and captives) whom their right hands possess, for (then) they are not to be blamed, 30 (but whoso seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants, 32 and those who stand by their testimony 33 And those who guard their Salat (prayers) well. 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35