Surah 070
Al-Maʿārij
المعارج
44 verses · Meccan
Key structural observations
- The surah is structured around a correction of tempo: ascent belongs to degrees, while impatience turns the climb into agitation and eventually freezes the soul instead of raising it.
- Its central diagnosis, halūʿ, names a hyper-reactive self that panics under harm and withholds under ease; the problem is not distance first, but a gaze distorted by urgency.
- The surah's remedy is constancy, not intensity: prayer appears as rhythmic anchoring that warms, steadies, and teaches the heart to remain on one degree at a time.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
سَأَلَ سَائِلٌ بِعَذَابٍ وَاقِعٍ
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen
لِلْكَافِرِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُ دَافِعٌ
To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer.
مِنَ اللَّهِ ذِي الْمَعَارِجِ
[It is] from Allah, owner of the ways of ascent.
تَعْرُجُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ
The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years.
فَاصْبِرْ صَبْرًا جَمِيلًا
So be patient with gracious patience.
إِنَّهُمْ يَرَوْنَهُ بَعِيدًا
Indeed, they see it [as] distant,
وَنَرَاهُ قَرِيبًا
But We see it [as] near.
يَوْمَ تَكُونُ السَّمَاءُ كَالْمُهْلِ
On the Day the sky will be like murky oil,
وَتَكُونُ الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ
And the mountains will be like wool,
وَلَا يَسْأَلُ حَمِيمٌ حَمِيمًا
And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend,
يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ۚ يَوَدُّ الْمُجْرِمُ لَوْ يَفْتَدِي مِنْ عَذَابِ يَوْمِئِذٍ بِبَنِيهِ
They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children
وَصَاحِبَتِهِ وَأَخِيهِ
And his wife and his brother
وَفَصِيلَتِهِ الَّتِي تُؤْوِيهِ
And his nearest kindred who shelter him
وَمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ يُنْجِيهِ
And whoever is on earth entirely [so] then it could save him.
كَلَّا ۖ إِنَّهَا لَظَىٰ
No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell],
نَزَّاعَةً لِلشَّوَىٰ
A remover of exteriors.
تَدْعُو مَنْ أَدْبَرَ وَتَوَلَّىٰ
It invites he who turned his back [on truth] and went away [from obedience]
وَجَمَعَ فَأَوْعَىٰ
And collected [wealth] and hoarded.
۞ إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا
Indeed, mankind was created anxious:
إِذَا مَسَّهُ الشَّرُّ جَزُوعًا
When evil touches him, impatient,
وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ الْخَيْرُ مَنُوعًا
And when good touches him, withholding [of it],
إِلَّا الْمُصَلِّينَ
Except the observers of prayer -
الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ دَائِمُونَ
Those who are constant in their prayer
وَالَّذِينَ فِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ حَقٌّ مَعْلُومٌ
And those within whose wealth is a known right
لِلسَّائِلِ وَالْمَحْرُومِ
For the petitioner and the deprived -
وَالَّذِينَ يُصَدِّقُونَ بِيَوْمِ الدِّينِ
And those who believe in the Day of Recompense
وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ مِنْ عَذَابِ رَبِّهِمْ مُشْفِقُونَ
And those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord -
إِنَّ عَذَابَ رَبِّهِمْ غَيْرُ مَأْمُونٍ
Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe -
وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِفُرُوجِهِمْ حَافِظُونَ
And those who guard their private parts
إِلَّا عَلَىٰ أَزْوَاجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ غَيْرُ مَلُومِينَ
Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed -
فَمَنِ ابْتَغَىٰ وَرَاءَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْعَادُونَ
But whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors -
وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِأَمَانَاتِهِمْ وَعَهْدِهِمْ رَاعُونَ
And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive
وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ بِشَهَادَاتِهِمْ قَائِمُونَ
And those who are in their testimonies upright
وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ
And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer:
أُولَٰئِكَ فِي جَنَّاتٍ مُكْرَمُونَ
They will be in gardens, honored.
فَمَالِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا قِبَلَكَ مُهْطِعِينَ
So what is [the matter] with those who disbelieve, hastening [from] before you, [O Muhammad],
عَنِ الْيَمِينِ وَعَنِ الشِّمَالِ عِزِينَ
[To sit] on [your] right and [your] left in separate groups?
أَيَطْمَعُ كُلُّ امْرِئٍ مِنْهُمْ أَنْ يُدْخَلَ جَنَّةَ نَعِيمٍ
Does every person among them aspire to enter a garden of pleasure?
كَلَّا ۖ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاهُمْ مِمَّا يَعْلَمُونَ
No! Indeed, We have created them from that which they know.
فَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِرَبِّ الْمَشَارِقِ وَالْمَغَارِبِ إِنَّا لَقَادِرُونَ
So I swear by the Lord of [all] risings and settings that indeed We are able
عَلَىٰ أَنْ نُبَدِّلَ خَيْرًا مِنْهُمْ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَسْبُوقِينَ
To replace them with better than them; and We are not to be outdone.
فَذَرْهُمْ يَخُوضُوا وَيَلْعَبُوا حَتَّىٰ يُلَاقُوا يَوْمَهُمُ الَّذِي يُوعَدُونَ
So leave them to converse vainly and amuse themselves until they meet their Day which they are promised -
يَوْمَ يَخْرُجُونَ مِنَ الْأَجْدَاثِ سِرَاعًا كَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَىٰ نُصُبٍ يُوفِضُونَ
The Day they will emerge from the graves rapidly as if they were, toward an erected idol, hastening.
خَاشِعَةً أَبْصَارُهُمْ تَرْهَقُهُمْ ذِلَّةٌ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ الْيَوْمُ الَّذِي كَانُوا يُوعَدُونَ
Their eyes humbled, humiliation will cover them. That is the Day which they had been promised.