The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the 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 steps (of progression), 3 To whom the angels and the soul take a day to ascend, whose length is fifty thousand years. 4 (Muhammad), exercise patience with no complaints. 5 Surely they think it to be far off, 6 while We think that it is near at hand. 7 It shall befall on a Day whereon the heaven shall become like unto dregs of oil. 8 And the hills will be light as wool. 9 And no familiar friend will ask a question of his friend 10 (Though) they shall be made to see each other. The guilty one would fain redeem himself from the chastisement of that day by (sacrificing) his children, 11 His wife and his brother, 12 And his kin that harboured him 13 and whosoever is in the earth, altogether, so that it might save him. 14 No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell], 15 A remover of exteriors. 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 ۞ VERILY, man is born with a restless disposition. 19 when misfortune touches him he starts lamenting, 20 And when good touches him, withholding [of it], 21 Not so are the prayerful. 22 and are constant in their Prayer; 23 And those in whose wealth there is a fixed portion. 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 who confirm the Day of Doom 26 and go in fear of the chastisement of their Lord 27 surely the chastisement of their Lord is a thing none can feel secure from – 28 and 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 whoso seeks after more than that, they are the transgressors), 31 and those who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges; 32 And those who are in their testimonies upright 33 And those who guard (the sacredness) of their worship;- 34 Those shall dwell in Gardens, honoured. 35