1. An inquirer asked – a caller called out – about an impending punishment.

2. It is for the unbelievers and cannot be averted – the one who asked was an-Nadr ibn al-Harith. He said, “O Allah, if this is the truth…” (8:32) –

3. …from Allah, the Lord of the Ascending Steps by which the angels go up, meaning the heavens.

4. The angels and the Spirit (Jibril) ascend (read as ta‘ruju and ya‘ruju) to Him – when His command descends from heaven – in a day whose length is fifty thousand years. This is the Day when the punishment occurs: in other words, the Day of Resurrection. For an unbeliever it will seem like that because of the hardships he will encounter on it. For a believer, it will seem less than the time it takes to pray a prescribed prayer, as has been reported in ˛adıth.

5. Therefore be patient with a patience that is beautiful. This was before the command to fight. This is patience without anxiety.

6. They see it as something distant – they think that the punishment will not occur –

7. …but We see it as very close – and that it must come to pass.

8. On the Day the sky is like molten brass…

9. …and the mountains are like tufts of coloured wool because of their lightness and being blown about by the wind,

10. …no good friend will ask about his friend – because he will be too busy with his own state,

11. … even though they (close friends) can see each other – they will recognise but not speak to one another, an evildoer (unbeliever) will wish he could ransom himself from the punishment of that Day (yawmi’idhin and yawma’idhin) by means of his sons,

12. …or his wife or his brother,

13. …or his family who sheltered him,

14. …or everyone else on earth, if that only meant that he could save himself. He would offer all that as a ransom.

15. But no! It is a Raging Blaze, which burns the unbelievers –

16. …stripping away the limbs and scalp,

17. …which calls for all who drew back and turned away – from faith. It will call, “To me! To me!” –

18. …and amassed wealth and hoarded up – kept it without paying what was due to Allah on it.

19. Truly man was created headstrong –

20. …desperate when bad things happen,

21. …begrudging when good things come – when Allah gives him wealth, he does not give it to people;

22. …except for those who pray – the believers –

23. …and are constant in it;

24. …those in whose wealth there is a known share – meaning zakat –

25. …for beggars and the destitute – those who refrain from asking and so are deprived of their needs;

26. …those who affirm the Day of Judgement and Repayment;

27. …those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord –

28. …no one is safe from the punishment of his Lord;

29. …those who guard their private parts,

30. …except from their wives and any slaves they own, in which case they incur no blame,

31. …but if anyone desires any more than that, they have over - stepped the limits of the halal and haram;

32. …those who honour their trusts (read as amanat and amana) – with respect to the dın and this world – and contracts which they made;

33. …those who stand by their testimony (read as shahadat and shahada) – and do not conceal it;

34. …those who safeguard their prayer – perform their prayers at their proper times

35. Such people will be in Gardens, highly honoured.

36. What is the matter with those who disbelieve? They run about in front of you – towards you – with outstretched necks and staring eyes,

37. …on the right and on the left in scattered groups! They used to say in mockery to the believers, “If those people enter the Garden, we will enter it before them!”

38. Does each one of them aspire to be admitted into a Garden of Delight? This is in answer to what they used to say in mockery.

39. Certainly not! – refuting their desire to enter the Garden. We created them and others from what they know full well – from sperm. One cannot aspire to the Garden through that – only through being godfearing.

40. No! I swear by the Lord of the Easts and Wests – this is an oath by the sun, moon and all the stars – that We have the power…

41. …to replace them with something better than them – put others in their place. We will not be outstripped. We do not lack the power to do that.

42. So leave them to plunge and play around – in their falsehood and vanity in this world – until they meet their Day and their punishment which they are promised:

43. the Day they will emerge swiftly from their grave s for the Gathering as if rushing to rally to the flag (read as nusub and nasb) – something set up as a marker or a banner –

44. …eyes downcast (abased), darkened by debasement; that will be the Day which they were promised. This is what happens on the Day of Rising.