The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
One demanding, demanded the chastisement which must befall 1 Upon the disbelievers, which none can avert, 2 From Allah, Owner of the ascending steps. 3 by which the angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him in one Day which will last for fifty thousand years. 4 So be thou patient with a sweet patience; 5 Verily they behold it afar off. 6 but, We see it as near! 7 It shall befall on a Day whereon the sky will become like molten brass, 8 And the hills will be light as wool. 9 And no friend will ask of a 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 spouse and his brother 12 And the family in which he was. 13 And all those who are on the earth, to save himself. 14 Nay, verily it is a furnace 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 who amassed and hoarded. 18 ۞ Surely man is created of a hasty temperament 19 Being greatly grieved when evil afflicts him 20 And niggardly when good touches him; 21 Except those who closely follow (the Book of God), 22 and constant in their prayers. 23 and in whose possessions there is a due share, acknowledged [by them,] 24 to those who ask [for help] and to the destitute; 25 And those who accept the truth of the judgment day 26 And those who fear the displeasure of their Lord,- 27 the punishment of their Lord is not something for them to feel secure of, 28 and guard their private parts 29 except from their spouses and those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock], for which they incur no blame -- 30 whereas such as seek to go beyond that [limit] are truly transgressors; 31 And those who keep their pledges and their covenant, 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies; 33 And those who of their prayer are observant. 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35