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 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 To Him ascend the angels and the Spirit in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see. 5 They deem it to be remote. 6 But We see it (quite) near. 7 On the Day the sky will be like murky oil, 8 And the mountains will be like wool, 9 no loyal friend shall question loyal 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 the nearest of his kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 and all those on earth. 14 By no means! For the raging flames of the fire 15 Plucking out (his being) right to the skull!- 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 hoarded (wealth) and withheld it. 18 ۞ Verily man is formed impatient. 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 And niggardly when good reaches him;- 21 Not so those devoted to Prayer;- 22 Those who are constant in their prayer 23 They are those who assign a certain share of their property 24 for the impoverished nonrequester and the requester, 25 And those who believe the Day of Judgement to be true. 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 guard their private parts, 29 Except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess,- for (then) they are not to be blamed, 30 But whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors - 31 And those who keep their pledges and their covenant, 32 and perform their witnessings, 33 And those who guard (the sacredness) of their worship;- 34 Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss). 35