The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen 1 Upon the infidels -- which none would be able to repel -- 2 From God, the Lord of the steps (of progression), 3 Whereby the angels ascend unto Him and also the spirit, On a Day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believer,] endure all adversity with goodly patience: 5 Indeed, they see it [as] distant, 6 but We see it to be very near. 7 [It will take place] on a Day when the sky will be like molten lead, 8 and the mountains shall be as plucked wool-tufts, 9 And not a friend shall ask 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 his wife, his brother, 12 And his kin that sheltered him. 13 and all the people of the earth, if that could deliver him. 14 By no means! Verily it is a Flame. 15 That would skin the scalp. 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 ۞ Indeed, mankind was created anxious: 19 Being greatly grieved when evil afflicts him 20 And refraining, when good reaches him. 21 But not so the worshippers 22 and are constant in their Prayer; 23 And those in whose wealth is a recognised right. 24 For the petitioner and the deprived - 25 And those who accept the truth of the judgment day 26 who are afraid of the torment of their Lord, 27 the punishment of their Lord is not something for them to feel secure of, 28 and those who guard their private parts, 29 Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed - 30 whereas such as seek to go beyond that [limit] are truly transgressors; 31 And those who protect the property entrusted to them, and their agreements. 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies; 33 And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer: 34 Those shall be in gardens, honored. 35