The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
A beseecher besought the visitation of chastisement, 1 (a chastisement meant) for the unbelievers, one which none can avert; 2 From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways 3 The angels and Jibreel, ascend towards Him – the punishment will befall on a day which spans fifty thousand years. 4 Therefore, [O believers] behave with seemly patience. 5 behold, men look upon that [reckoning] as something far away 6 but We see it to be very near. 7 The Day that the sky will be like the boiling filth of oil, (or molten copper or silver or lead, etc.). 8 and the mountains will become like dyed tufts of wool, 9 No loyal friend will ask another loyal friend 10 Though they will be put in sight of each other,- the sinner's desire will be: Would that he could redeem himself from the Penalty of that Day by (sacrificing) his children, 11 his wife, his brother, 12 his kin who sheltered him, 13 And all that are in the earth, if then it might deliver him. 14 But no! There is a raging blaze 15 Dragging by the head, 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 who accumulated wealth without spending it for a good purpose. 18 ۞ Verily man is impatient by nature: 19 bewailing when evil befalls him, 20 And when good toucheth him he is begrudging. 21 Except the observers of prayer - 22 and continue at their prayers, 23 In whose wealth a due share is included 24 for the beggar and the outcast, 25 who confirm the Day of Doom 26 And those who fear the punishment of their Lord. 27 Surely no one can be secure from the punishment of his Lord, -- 28 who guard their privates 29 except from their spouses and those whom they rightfully possess [through wedlock], for which they incur no blame -- 30 But whosoever seeks beyond that, they are the transgressors. 31 And those who of their trusts and their covenant are keepers. 32 And those who stand firm in their testimonies; 33 And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer: 34 They will be in gardens, honored. 35