The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
A questioner asked about a Penalty to befall- 1 the unbelievers which none can prevent. 2 (A punishment) from Allah, the Owner of the Elevated Passages. 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 Therefore do thou hold Patience,- a Patience of beautiful (contentment). 5 They see it [the Day of Judgement] to be far off, 6 And We see it nigh. 7 On that Day the heaven shall become like molten copper, 8 And the mountains will be like flakes of wool, 9 And no friend will ask concerning his 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 his kinsmen who gave him refuge (from hardship) 13 and all the people of the earth, if that could deliver him. 14 But nay! Verily, all [that awaits him] is a raging flame, 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 amassed wealth and hoarded it. 18 ۞ Indeed, the human was created grudging and impatient. 19 Fretful when evil touches him; 20 when good visits him, grudging, 21 Not so are the prayerful. 22 and continue at their prayers, 23 They are those who assign a certain share of their property 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 and go in fear of the punishment of their Lord, 27 for none may ever feel secure from the punishment of their Lord; 28 who guard their carnal desires 29 Save in regard to their spouses or those whom their right hands own; so verily they are not blameworthy 30 (but whoso seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 And those who keep their trusts and covenants; 32 and who stand firm whenever they bear witness; 33 And those who keep a guard on their prayer, 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35