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 Upon the disbelievers, which none can avert, 2 (A Penalty) from Allah, Lord of the Ways of Ascent. 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit (Gabriel) ascend in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see. 5 they see it as being far off; 6 Whereas We see it impending. 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 And friend shall not ask of friend 10 as they are given sight of them. The sinner will wish that he might ransom himself from the chastisement of that day even by his sons, 11 And his wife and his brother 12 And his kindred who sheltered him, 13 And all those who are on the earth, to save himself. 14 By no means! It will be the fierce flame 15 will strip-off the flesh 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, man is born impatient: 19 Fretful when evil touches him; 20 And niggardly when good reaches him;- 21 Not so, however, those who consciously turn towards God in prayer. 22 who are constant in prayer; 23 those who give a due share of their wealth 24 For those who beg, and for the needy who cannot even ask. 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense, 26 and go in fear of the chastisement of their Lord 27 for, behold, of their Sustainer's chastisement none may ever feel [wholly] secure; 28 who guard their privates 29 Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed - 30 But he who seeks to go beyond this, these it is that go beyond the limits-- 31 And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants, 32 And those who are upright in their testimonies, 33 And those who are mindful of their moral obligations. 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35