The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 for the unbelievers, which none may avert, 2 From Allah, Owner of the ascending steps. 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit mount up, in a day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years. 4 So be patient (O Muhammad SAW), with a good patience. 5 They surely take it to be far away, 6 but We see it near at hand. 7 The day when the sky will become as molten copper, 8 And the hills will be light as wool. 9 And no friend will ask [anything 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 And his wife and his brother. 12 And the family in which he was. 13 And all those that are in the earth, (wishing) then (that) this might deliver him. 14 By no means! It will be the fierce flame 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 And amasses (wealth) then shuts it up. 18 ۞ VERILY, man is born with a restless disposition. 19 [As a rule,] whenever misfortune touches him, he is filled with self-pity; 20 but when good comes upon him, he is grudging 21 Except those who closely follow (the Book of God), 22 Those who are constant in their prayer 23 And in whose wealth there is a right acknowledged 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 hold to the truth of the Day of Judgment; 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord, -- 27 Surely the chastisement of their Lord is (a thing) not to be felt secure of-- 28 who guard their carnal desires 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 whoever goes beyond this is a transgressor; 31 And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants, 32 And those who stand by their testimony 33 And those who keep a guard on their prayer, 34 They will be honoured in the Gardens of Bliss. 35