The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
There hath asked an asker for the torment about to befall. 1 Upon the infidels -- which none would be able to repel -- 2 No one can defend him against God, the Lord of the exalted positions. 3 (Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years. 4 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 Whereas We see it impending. 7 On the day when the heaven shall be as molten copper 8 and the mountains become like wool, 9 And friend shall not ask of 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 kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 And all those that are in the earth, (wishing) then (that) this might deliver him. 14 By no means! Surely it is a flaming fire 15 It snatches away by the scalps, 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 masseth and then hoardeth. 18 ۞ Lo! man was created anxious, 19 bewailing when evil befalls him, 20 when good visits him, grudging, 21 save those that pray 22 who are constant in prayer; 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 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 Lo! the doom of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure - 28 And those who of their private parts are guards. 29 except from their wives and what their right hands own, for these they are not blameworthy. 30 But whosoever seeks beyond that, they are the transgressors. 31 and those who fulfil their trusts and their covenants, 32 and who stand firm whenever they bear witness; 33 And those who are mindful of their moral obligations. 34 They will live in gardens with honour. 35