The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
There hath asked an asker for the torment about to befall. 1 (a chastisement meant) for the unbelievers, one which none can avert; 2 From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways 3 The angels and the Ruh [Jibrael (Gabriel)] ascend to Him in a Day the measure whereof is fifty thousand years, 4 Therefore, [O believers] behave with seemly patience. 5 They see it [the Day of Judgement] to be far off, 6 Whereas We see it impending. 7 Upon the day when heaven shall be as molten copper 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 And no friend will ask of a friend, 10 though they shall be within sight of each other. The guilty one will gladly ransom himself from the torment of that Day by sacrificing his own children, 11 his wife, his brother, 12 And his family who had stood by him, 13 and whosoever is in the earth, all together, so that then it might deliver him. 14 By no means! for it would be the Fire of Hell!- 15 that will strip off 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 who amassed and hoarded. 18 ۞ Surely man was created fretful, 19 Being greatly grieved when evil afflicts him 20 when good visits him, grudging, 21 save those that pray 22 Those who are regular in their prayers. 23 And those in whose wealth is a recognised right. 24 For the beggar who asks, and for the unlucky who has lost his property and wealth, (and his means of living has been straitened); 25 And those who believe in the Day of Recompense 26 and who stand in dread of their Sustainer's chastisement 27 for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord, 28 And those who guard their chastity, 29 Are free of blame, 30 (but whoso seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 And those who protect the property entrusted to them, and their agreements. 32 and those who are upright in their testimonies; 33 and (finally) those who do not miss their ritual - prayers at the prescribed times; 34 Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise) honoured. 35