The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
ONE who is minded to ask might ask about the suffering which [in the hereafter] is bound to befall 1 to those who deny the truth. No power can hinder God 2 from punishing them. He is the Lord of the Ascending Stairways, 3 On that Day (of Judgment), long as fifty thousand years, the angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him. 4 So persevere with becoming patience. 5 They see the (Day) indeed as a far-off (event): 6 Whereas We see it impending. 7 The Day that the sky will be like molten brass, 8 and the mountains shall be as plucked wool-tufts, 9 And friend shall not ask of 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 and his brother, 12 the kinsmen who gave him shelter, 13 And all those who are on the earth, to save himself. 14 But never. It is pure white flame 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 amassed (riches) and hoarded. 18 ۞ Indeed man is created very impatient, greedy. 19 Fretful when evil touches him; 20 but when good comes upon him, he is grudging 21 But not so the worshippers 22 Those who are constant in their prayer 23 In whose wealth a due share is included 24 for such as ask [for help] and such as are deprived [of what is good in life]; 25 and who accept as true the [coming of the] Day of Judgment; 26 and are fearful of the punishment of their Lord; 27 Verily the torment of their Lord is not a thing to feel secure from. 28 who guard their privates 29 save from their wives and what their right hands own, then not being blameworthy 30 But whoso seeketh more than that, those are they who are transgressors; 31 and those who are faithful to their trusts and to their pledges; 32 Who uphold their testimonies, 33 And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer: 34 Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise) honoured. 35