70- Surat Alma'arij

 

70- Surat Alma'arij

44 Verses Meccan (revealed in Mecca)

A'auzu Bellahi mena ash-shytani ar-rajim

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan

Bismi Ellahi Ar-rhmani Ar-rahim

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Sa'ala sa'elon be-azabin waqe' (1).

A questioner asked for a torment bound to befall.

Lel-kafereena laysa lahuo dafe' (2).

To the disbelievers, there is no preventer from it. 

Mena Allahi zee alma'arij (3).

From Allah, Owner of the ways of ascent.

Ta'ruju Almalaikatu wa alruhuo elaiyhi fee yawmin kana meqdaruhuo khamseena alfa sanah (4).

To whom ascends the Angels and the Spirit in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years.

Fa-ssber ssabran jameela (5).

So be patient, a beautiful patience.

Innahum yarawnahu ba'eda (6).

Indeed, they see it far off.

Wa narahu qareeba (7).

And We see it near.

Yawma takunuo alsama'uo kal-mul (8).

The day  when the sky will be like a molten thing.

Wa takunuo aljebaluo kal-ehhn (9).

And the mountains will be like wool.

Wala yasa'lu hamemun hamema (10).

And no friend will ask about a friend.

You-bassarunahum yawadduo almujremuo la-w yaftadi men azabi yawma-izin bebaneeh (11).

They will be made to see each other, the criminal would wish if he could redeem himself from the torment of that day by his children.

Wa ssahebatehi wa akheeh (12).

And his wife and his brother.

Wa faselatehi allati tu-weeh (13).

And his kindred that sheltered him.

Wa man fee alardi jamee'an thumma younjeeh (14).

And all that on the earth then it could save him.

Kalla innaha Laza (15).

Nay! indeed it is Laza.

Nazza'atan le-shshawa (16).

A remover of the limbs.

Tad'uo man ad-bara wa tawalla (17).

Inviting he who turned his back and went away.

Wa jama'a fa-aw'a (18).

And collected and hoarded.

Inna alinsana khuliqa halu'a (19).

Indeed, man was created apprehensive.

Iza massahu alshsharruo jazu'a (20).

When the evil touches him, distressed.

Wa iza massahu alkhaiyruo manu'a (21). 

And when the good touches him, withholding.

Ella almussalleen (22).

Except those who prays.

Allazina hum ala salatehim da'emuon (23).

Those who are regular in their prayers.

Wa allazina fee amwalehim haqqun ma'lum (24).

And those who in their wealth a known right.

Le-esa'eli wa almahruom (25).

For the one who asks and the deprived.

Wa allazina you-ssaddequona be-yawmi alddin (26).

And those who believes in the day of Judgement.

Wa allazina hum men azabi Rabbehim mushfequon (27).

And those who are apprehensive from the torment of their Lord.

Inna azaba Rabbehim ghayruo ma'muon (28).

Indeed, the torment of their Lord is not to be felt secure from.

Wa allazina hum le-furujehim hafezuon (29).

And those who guard their private parts.

Ella ala azwajehim aww ma malakat aymanuhum fa innahum ghayruo malumeen (30).

Except from their spouses or what their right hands possess, then indeed, they are not to be blamed.

Fa mani ebtagha wara'a zaleka fa aulaeka humuo aladuon (31).

But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors.

Wa allazina hum le-amanatehim wa ahdehim ra'uon (32).

And those who are careful about their trusts and their covenants.

Wa allazina hum be-shahadatehim qa'emuon (33).

And those who are upright in their testimonies.

Wa allazina hum ala salatehim you-hafezuon (34).

And those who maintain their prayers.

Aulaeka fee jannatin mukramuon (35).

Those will be in gardens, honored.

Fa mali Allazina kafaruo qebalaka muhte'in (36).

So what is with those who disbelieve that they are hastening before You.

Ani alyameeni wa alshshemali izeen (37).

On the right and on the left in separate groups?.

A-yatma'uo kullu emre'in menhum an youd-khala jannata na'eem (38).

Does every one of them aspire to be entered to a paradise of bliss?.

Kalla inna khalaqnahum memma ya'lamuon (39).

Nay! indeed, We have created them from what they know.

Fala auqsemuo be-Rabbi almashareqi wa almagharebi inna la-qaderuon (40).

But Nay! I swear by the Lord of the risings and the settings that We are Able.

Ala an nuobaddela khayran menhum wa ma nahnuo be-masbuqeen (41).

To replace them with better than them, and We are not to be outdone.

Fa zarhum yakhuduo wa yal'abuo hatta youlaquo yawmahuhuo allazi you'aduon (42).

So leave them conversing vainly and playing until they meet their day which they are promised.

Yawma yakhrujuna mena alajdathi sera'an ka-annahum ela nusubin youfeduon (43).

The day they will come out from the graves rapidly, as if they were hastening to a goal.

Khashe'atan abssaruhum tarhaquhum zellatun zaleka alyawmuo allazi kanuo you'aduon (44).

Their eyes will be humbled, and humiliation will cover them that is the day which they had been promised.

Simplified interpretation: 

 Surat Alma'arij is a respond from Allah Almighty to those who hasten His torment, and He assures them that it will inevitably happen with a description of some scenes of the day of resurrection, and the state of the disbelievers on that day. Then Allah enumerates some characteristic of the believers who will enter Paradise, and He threatens the polytheists that He is able to replace them with those who are better, and that they will inevitably face the day of resurrection.

 Allah says in the first four verses "A questioner asked for a torment bound to befall, to the disbelievers, there is no preventer from it, from Allah, Owner of the ways of ascent, to whom ascends the Angels and the Spirit in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years", where the infidels of Quraish asked about Allah's torment which will inevitably happen to them and there will be no refuge for the disbelievers to save them from that torment, and this is similar to Aya (47) of Surat Alhajj "And they urge You to hasten the punishment, but Allah will never fail in His promise, and indeed a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of those which you count", and their torment is from Allah, the Owner of the ways of ascent, where Allah has made ascents through which the Angels and the Spirit ascends to Him, and the Spirit Here refers to Gabriel as Mentioned in Surat Alqadr, and while the day with Allah is like a thousand years of those which we count as mentioned above, the measure of the day of resurrection alone will be like a fifty thousand years of those which we count, then comes eternity in Paradise or Hellfire. 

 Then Allah says to His Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the fifth verse to be patient, a beautiful patience, for their denial, and their harm that He had faced. They hasten the torment because they does not believe in the day of resurrection as mentioned in Surat Alshura Aya (18) "those who do not believe in it are impatient for it", So Allah says in the next two verses (6,7) "Indeed, they see it far off, and We see it near", that is, those who disbelieve in the Hereafter and the meeting with Allah on the day of resurrection see that the day of resurrection is far fetched and it will not happen as mentioned in Aya (36) of Surat Almu'minun "Far fetched, far fetched, is what you are promised", but Allah assures that it is inevitable, and He describes two of its scenes in the next two verses (8,9) where on the day of resurrection the sky will be like a molten thing and the mountains will be like wool which is a weak thing then they will be removed and becomes mirage as mentioned in Surat Alnaba' Aya (20).

 And on that day "no friend will ask about a friend, they will be made to see each other, the criminal would wish if he could redeem himself from the torment of that day by his children, and his wife and his brother, And his kindred that sheltered him, and all that on the earth then it could save him" Ayat (10-14), Although they will be made to see each other but no friend will ask about his friend where as mentioned in Surat Abasa "The day, a man will flee from his brother, and his mother and his father, And his wife, and his children, For every man among them that day a matter occupying him". So the criminal will not be able to redeem himself from the torment by any one even if he brought all that on the earth.

 Therefore Allah thwarts their wishes in the next four verses (15-18) and says "Nay! indeed it is Laza, A remover of the limbs, inviting he who turned his back and went away, and collected and hoarded", where his fate will be to Laza, and Laza is one of the names of the Hellfire, where it is the fire of intense heat that strips his limbs (e.g the skin of head, hands, and feet) that does not lead to his death because he neither dies nor lives in the Hellfire as Allah has told us in Surat Ala'la, and the Hellfire will invite he who turned his back to the believe in Allah and His Messengers, and went away from the truth, and he collected the money and did not fulfill Allah's right in it like charity (Zakah) and spending in the way of Allah.

 Allah's Messenger Muhammad (PBUH) said in narration of Abu Hurayrah ''If any owner of gold or silver does not pay what is due on it, when the day of resurrection would come, plates of fire would be beaten out for him, these would then be heated in the fire of Hell and his sides, his forehead, and his back would be cauterized with them. Whenever these cool down repeated during a day the extent of which would be fifty thousand years, until Judgement is pronounced among servants, and he sees whether his path is to take him to Paradise or to Hell" (Sahih Muslim 987). This Hadith proves what was mentioned above in Aya (4) that the measure of the day of resurrection will be like a fifty thousand years of those which we count.

 Then Allah says in the next three verses (19-21) "Indeed, man was created apprehensive, When the evil touches him, distressed, and when the good touches him, withholding", where human nature based on the severity of panic with the severity of anxiety and the severity of miserliness, so if he was harmed, he panicked and his heart fell out of fear, and if he receives a blessing from Allah, he withholds Allah's right in it.

 This nature is only related to the disbelievers for Allah says in the next verse (22) "Except those who prays" that is, the believers, and Allah describes them in the next thirteen verses (23-35), ''Those who are regular in their prayers, and those who in their wealth a known right, for the one who asks and the deprived, and those who believe in the day of Judgement, and those who are apprehensive from the torment of their Lord, indeed, the torment of their Lord is not to be felt secure from, and those who guard their private parts, except from their spouses or what their right hands possess, then indeed, they are not to be blamed, but whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors, and those who are careful about their trusts and their covenants, and those who are upright in their testimonies, and those who maintain their prayers, those will be in gardens, honored".

 They are regular in their prayers and they perform it in its prescribed time, they spend in the way of Allah from their wealth a known right for the one who asks and the deprived, and they believe in resurrection and reckoning, they are fearful of the torment of their Lord, so they do the deeds of those who hope reward and fear punishment, for the torment of their Lord is not to be felt secure from if they disobeyed Him, and they guard their private parts as they do not approach adultery or gays, except from their wives and those whom their right hands possess of the slave-girls, and if they do so, then they are not to be blamed but whoever seeks other than his wife or his slave-girls, then those are the transgressors; because adultery is forbidden and it is not one of the characteristics of the believers where Our Prophet (PBUH) said in Narration of Abu Hurayrah "When the adulterer commits illegal sexual intercourse, then he is not a believer at the time he is doing it", so they deserve to be punished by the legal punishment of adultery which is one hundred lashes for the unmarried and lashing and stoning to death (The Rajm) for the married fornicator as mentioned in Aya (2) of Surat Alnoor.

 And if they are entrusted with trusts, they do not betray, rather they return them to their owners, or if they make a promise or contract they fulfill that, and they maintain their testimonies where they do not add to it, do not decrease it, and do not conceal it whether it is against a relative or a stranger, and Allah says in Surat Albaqarah Aya (283) that whoever conceal testimony, his heart is indeed sinful. And because of its great importance, Allah says again that they guard their prayers i.e. its timing, pillars, and duties. Then Allah assures that those who do these deeds will be honored in gardens where He will honor them with His generosity in the gardens of bliss on the day of resurrection.

 The next four verses (36-39) came as a denunciation from Allah for the infidels of Quraish, where He addresses His Messenger and says "So what is with those who disbelieve that they are hastening before You, on the right and on the left in separate groups?, Does every one of them aspire to be entered to a paradise of bliss?, nay! indeed, We have created them from what they know", where they hasten to flee from the truth and the remembrance and they are scattered in groups and this is similar to Ayat (49-51) of Surat Almuddaththir "Then what is with them that they are from the reminder, turning away, as if they a frightened donkeys, fleeing from a lion". So Allah says does they desire to enter paradise of bliss despite their disbelief, and although they knew the weakness of their creation and yet they did not attribute the greatness to their creator.

 Allah says in the next two verses (40,41) "But Nay! I swear by the Lord of the risings and the settings that We are Able, to replace them with better than them, and We are not to be outdone", that is, Allah Swears by Himself, the Great who created each point of the risings and the settings of the sun of which the hours of day and night are determined throughout the year as well the variation of the sunrise and the sunset times from one place to another, and this oath comes to assure that the Able who created many risings and settings of the sun is also Able to replace them with better than them those who will believe in Him and who obey Him, and Allah does whatever He wills and He is not to be outdone.

 And Allah addresses His Messenger in the last three verses (42-44) and says "So leave them conversing vainly and playing until they meet their day which they are promised, the day they will come out from the graves rapidly, as if they were hastening to a goal, their eyes will be humbled, and humiliation will cover them that is the day which they had been promised", that is, leave them conversing vainly in their disbelief and stubbornness, and leave them playing and be preoccupied with the pleasures of the worldly life until they meet the day of resurrection which they used to deny as mentioned at the beginning of this Surah, and then they will come out from the graves and they will race as if they were hastening to a goal, and  their eyes will be humbled, and humiliation will cover them because they found what they used to deny in the worldly life had become true, "that is the day which they had been promised".

No one Knows its interpretation except Allah