The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
There hath asked an asker for the torment about to befall. 1 to those who deny the truth. No power can hinder God 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit (Gabriel) ascend in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So be thou patient with a sweet patience; 5 Surely they think it to be far off, 6 But We see it (quite) near. 7 On the Day the sky will be like murky oil, 8 And the hills become as flakes of wool, 9 no loyal friend shall question loyal friend, 10 though they are in sight of each other. To ransom himself from the punishment of that Day, the sinner will wish that he might even ransom himself by his sons, 11 And his wife and his brother, 12 And his kindred who sheltered him, 13 and whosoever is in the earth, all together, so that then it might deliver him. 14 By no means! Verily it is a Flame. 15 A fire that melts the hide. 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 amasses (wealth) then shuts it up. 18 ۞ Surely man is greedy by nature. 19 when misfortune touches him he starts lamenting, 20 And refraining, when good reaches him. 21 Not so, however, those who consciously turn towards God in prayer. 22 Who are constant at their worship 23 And those in whose wealth exists a recognised right, 24 For the needy and those dispossessed, 25 And those who accept the truth of the judgment day 26 And those who are fearful of their Lord's doom - 27 Indeed the punishment of their Lord is not a thing to be unafraid of! 28 who guard their carnal desires 29 Save in regard to their spouses or those whom their right hands own; so verily they are not blameworthy 30 But he who seeks to go beyond this, these it is that go beyond the limits-- 31 and those who fulfil their trusts and their covenants, 32 And those who are upright in their testimonies, 33 and are steadfast in their prayers. 34 Those shall dwell in Gardens, honoured. 35