The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
A questioner asked about a Penalty to befall- 1 The Unbelievers, the which there is none to ward off,- 2 From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways 3 Whereby the angels ascend unto Him and also the spirit, On a Day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 So be patient with gracious patience. 5 Verily they behold it afar off. 6 While we behold it nigh: 7 It shall befall on a Day whereon the heaven shall become like unto dregs of oil. 8 and the mountains will be like tufts of wool, 9 No loyal friend will ask another loyal friend 10 Though within sight of one another. The sinner would like to ransom himself from the torment of that Day by offering his sons, 11 his wife, his brother, 12 And his kin that sheltered him. 13 and whosoever is in the earth, all together, so that then it might deliver him. 14 But nay! Verily, all [that awaits him] is a raging 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 hoarded (wealth) and withheld it. 18 ۞ Verily man is formed impatient. 19 Being greatly grieved when evil afflicts him 20 but when good comes upon him, he is grudging 21 except those who are steadfast 22 Those who are constant in their prayer 23 and those in whose wealth there is a known right 24 For the petitioner and the deprived - 25 And those who testify to the Day of Requital. 26 And those who are fearful of their Lord's doom - 27 Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe - 28 And those who of their private parts are guards. 29 except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed, 30 But whosoever seeks beyond that, then it is those who are trespassers. 31 who honor their trust and promises, 32 and standby their witnessing, 33 and who observe their prayers. 34 It is these who will be honoured in Gardens. 35