The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
A doubter once demanded that punishment be immediately meted out, 1 The infidels, of which there is no averter. 2 From Allah, Lord of the Ascending Stairways 3 (Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years. 4 But be patient (O Muhammad) with a patience fair to see. 5 Lo! they behold it afar off 6 but, We see it as near! 7 On the day when the heaven shall be as molten copper 8 And the mountains will be like flakes of wool, 9 even intimate friends will not inquire about their friends, 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 And his wife and his brother 12 and his kinsfolk who had stood by him, 13 and all persons of the earth, if only he could thus save himself. 14 By no means! Verily, it will be the Fire of Hell! 15 that will strip off the scalp. 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 amasses (wealth) then shuts it up. 18 ۞ Indeed man is created very impatient, greedy. 19 If evil befalls him he is perturbed; 20 And refraining, when good reaches him. 21 except those that pray 22 Those who are constant at their prayer 23 those in whose wealth is a right known 24 For the petitioner and the deprived - 25 and those who believe in the Day of Judgement 26 and are fearful of the punishment of their Lord; 27 the punishment of their Lord is not something for them to feel secure of, 28 And those who preserve their chastity 29 Except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess,- for (then) they are not to be blamed, 30 but whoever goes beyond this is a transgressor; 31 And those who of their trusts and their covenant are keepers. 32 and who stand firm whenever they bear witness; 33 and who observe their prayers. 34 Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise) honoured. 35