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 which will inevitably seize the disbelievers. 2 From Allah, the Lord of the ways of ascent. 3 The angels and the spirit ascend unto him in a Day the measure whereof is (as) fifty thousand years: 4 Therefore be patient, with a beautiful patience; 5 They surely take it to be far away, 6 but We see it to be very near. 7 The Day that the sky will be like the boiling filth of oil, (or molten copper or silver or lead, etc.). 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 and no friend will ask about his friend, 10 They will be seeing them; the guilty will wish if only he could redeem himself from the punishment of that day, by offering his sons. 11 And his wife and his brother 12 And his kin that sheltered him. 13 and all persons of the earth, if only he could thus save himself. 14 By no means! It will be the fierce flame 15 Taking away (burning completely) the head skin! 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 accumulated wealth and hoarded it. 18 ۞ Verily man is impatient by nature: 19 Fretful when evil befalleth him 20 when good visits him, grudging, 21 except those that pray, 22 who are steadfast in prayer; 23 And those in whose wealth there is a fixed portion. 24 to those who ask [for help] and to the destitute; 25 who confirm the Day of Reckoning 26 And those who are fearful of the chastisement of their Lord-- 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 And those who preserve their chastity 29 except in regard to their spouses and those whom their right hands possess, for in regard to them they are not reproachable, 30 whereas such as seek to go beyond that [limit] are truly transgressors; 31 and those who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges; 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies; 33 And those who guard their Salat (prayers) well. 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35