المعارج
The Ascending Stairways
Explanations are simplified from tafsirs by Ibn Kathir, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Spot an inaccuracy? Let us know.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
sa-ala sāilun biʿadhābin wāqiʿin
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen
lil'kāfirīna laysa lahu dāfiʿun
To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer.
mina l-lahi dhī l-maʿāriji
[It is] from Allāh, owner of the ways of ascent.
taʿruju l-malāikatu wal-rūḥu ilayhi fī yawmin kāna miq'dāruhu khamsīna alfa sanatin
The angels and the Spirit [i.e., Gabriel] will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years.
fa-iṣ'bir ṣabran jamīlan
So be patient with gracious patience.
innahum yarawnahu baʿīdan
Indeed, they see it [as] distant,
wanarāhu qarīban
But We see it [as] near.
yawma takūnu l-samāu kal-muh'li
On the Day the sky will be like murky oil,
watakūnu l-jibālu kal-ʿih'ni
And the mountains will be like wool,
walā yasalu ḥamīmun ḥamīman
And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend,
yubaṣṣarūnahum yawaddu l-muj'rimu law yaftadī min ʿadhābi yawmi-idhin bibanīhi
They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children.
waṣāḥibatihi wa-akhīhi
And his wife and his brother
wafaṣīlatihi allatī tu'wīhi
And his nearest kindred who shelter him.
waman fī l-arḍi jamīʿan thumma yunjīhi
And whoever is on earth entirely [so] then it could save him.
kallā innahā laẓā
No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell],
nazzāʿatan lilshawā
A remover of exteriors.
tadʿū man adbara watawallā
It invites he who turned his back [on truth] and went away [from obedience]
wajamaʿa fa-awʿā
And collected [wealth] and hoarded.
inna l-insāna khuliqa halūʿan
Indeed, mankind was created anxious:
idhā massahu l-sharu jazūʿan
When evil touches him, impatient,
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