The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
AN INQUIRER ASKED for the affliction that is to come 1 The infidels, of which there is no averter. 2 a chastisement from Allah, the Lord of the ascending steps, 3 The angels and Jibreel, ascend towards Him – the punishment will befall on a day which spans fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore do thou hold Patience,- a Patience of beautiful (contentment). 5 Indeed, they see it [as] distant, 6 while We think that it is near at hand. 7 [It will take place] on a Day when the sky will be like molten lead, 8 The mountains like the tufts of (carded) wool, 9 And no friend inquires after 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 and his brother, 12 And his nearest kindred who shelter him 13 and whosoever is in the earth, altogether, so that it might save him. 14 By no means! for it would be the Fire of Hell!- 15 stripping away his 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 collected [wealth] and hoarded. 18 ۞ Truly man was created very impatient;- 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 And, when good befalleth him, grudging; 21 except those who are steadfast 22 Those who are regular in their prayers. 23 They are those who assign a certain share of their property 24 For the needy and those dispossessed, 25 And those who believe the Day of Judgement to be true. 26 and go in fear of the punishment of their Lord, 27 Surely the chastisement of their Lord is (a thing) not to be felt secure of-- 28 And those who guard their private parts, 29 except in regard to their spouses and those whom their right hands possess, for in regard to them they are not reproachable, 30 But whosoever seeks beyond that, then it is those who are trespassers. 31 And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants, 32 And those who stand by their testimony 33 And those who guard their Salat (prayers) well. 34 These it is who in the gardens [of paradise] shall be honoured! 35