Surah Al-Ma'arij — Word by Word
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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