The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
A caller supplicated about a punishment to fall on 1 for the unbelievers, which none may avert, 2 from God, the Lord of the Stairways. 3 The angels and the Ruh [Jibrael (Gabriel)] ascend to Him in a Day the measure whereof is fifty thousand years, 4 So, (O Prophet), persevere with gracious perseverance. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 And We see it nigh. 7 It shall befall on a Day whereon the sky will become like molten brass, 8 and the mountains shall be as plucked wool-tufts, 9 no loyal friend shall question loyal 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 his wife, his brother, 12 and his kinsfolk who gave him shelter, 13 and all persons of the earth, if only he could thus save himself. 14 But nay! Verily, all [that awaits him] is a raging flame, 15 will strip-off the flesh 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 amassed (riches) and hoarded. 18 ۞ Indeed, the human was created grudging and impatient. 19 when evil visits him, impatient, 20 And when good toucheth him he is begrudging. 21 Except the observers of prayer - 22 Those who are constant at their prayer 23 They are those who assign a certain share of their property 24 For the beggar and the destitute; 25 And those who believe in the Day of Judgment, 26 and go in fear of the punishment of their Lord, 27 Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- 28 And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts from illegal sexual acts). 29 Except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess,- for (then) they are not to be blamed, 30 but those who go beyond that limit are transgressors; 31 and who preserve their trusts and their covenant, 32 who testify to what they have witnessed, 33 and who guard their prayers [from all worldly intent]. 34 It is these who will be honoured in Gardens. 35