| | Ali Ünal rendition of Surah The Ascending Stairways, The Ladders(al-Ma`arij)
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| 70:1 | | A questioner (in mocking denial of the Day of Resurrection) has asked about the punishment certain to befall |
| 70:2 | | (And prepared for) the unbelievers; none can ward it off (from them) |
| 70:3 | | (It is) from God, Whose are the stairs of ascent |
| 70:4 | | The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him (thereby), in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years (of your normal worldly years) |
| 70:5 | | So (O Messenger) endure (their insolence) with becoming patience |
| 70:6 | | They see it (the punishment) as far off (beyond their reason and perception) |
| 70:7 | | But We see it as (certain to come and) near at hand |
| 70:8 | | The Day when the sky will be like molten metal |
| 70:9 | | And the mountains will be like multi-colored tufts of wool |
| 70:10 | | And no loyal friend will ask after his friend |
| 70:11 | | Though they will be in sight of each other. Every disbelieving criminal will yearn to ransom himself from the punishment of that Day even by his sons |
| 70:12 | | And his wife and his brother |
| 70:13 | | And all his kinsfolk who sheltered him |
| 70:14 | | And whoever else is on the earth, all of them, so that he might then save himself |
| 70:15 | | By no means! It is a furiously flaming fire |
| 70:16 | | Tearing away the skin |
| 70:17 | | It will call to itself those who turn their backs (on the call to faith) and turn away (from worship of God) |
| 70:18 | | And amass wealth and withhold it (from spending in God’s cause and for the needy) |
| 70:19 | | Surely human has been created with a restless, impatient disposition |
| 70:20 | | Fretful when evil visits him |
| 70:21 | | And niggardly when good visits him |
| 70:22 | | Except those who are devoted to the Prayer |
| 70:23 | | Those who are constant in their Prayer |
| 70:24 | | And those in whose wealth there is a right acknowledged (by them |
| 70:25 | | For such as have no means other than begging, and such as are denied help (because, having self-respect, they cannot beg and are thought to be well-off) |
| 70:26 | | And those who affirm as true the Day of Judgment |
| 70:27 | | And those who are fearful of their Lord’s punishment (and live accordingly) |
| 70:28 | | Indeed, their Lord’s punishment is that of which no one can ever feel secure |
| 70:29 | | And those who strictly guard their private parts, and their chastity and modesty |
| 70:30 | | Save from their spouses or (as a permission for men) those (bondsmaids) whom their right hands possess, for with regard to them they are free from blame |
| 70:31 | | But whoever seeks beyond that, such are those who exceed the bounds (set by God) |
| 70:32 | | And those who are faithful to their trusts (which either God or society or an individual places in their charge) and to their pledges (between them and God or other persons or society) |
| 70:33 | | And those who are upholders (of right and justice) by bearing true witness and without avoiding giving testimony |
| 70:34 | | And those who safeguard their Prayers (including all the rites of which they are constituted) |
| 70:35 | | Those will be in Gardens, high-honored |
| 70:36 | | What is the matter with those who disbelieve, that (with the intent of mockery) they hasten on toward you with staring eyes fixed on you |
| 70:37 | | From the right and from the left, in crowds |
| 70:38 | | Does every one of them covet admission into the Garden of bounty and blessing (regarding himself as supremely deserving Paradise without the effort of faith) |
| 70:39 | | By no means! We have surely created them out of that (simple matter) which they know very well |
| 70:40 | | So, I swear by the Lord of the points of sunrise and sunset, that surely We are abl |
| 70:41 | | To replace them with (others) better than them (in respect of faith in God and in their worship of Him), and We are not to be frustrated (in doing what We will) |
| 70:42 | | So leave them plunging in their falsehoods and amusements until the Day that they have been promised |
| 70:43 | | The Day when they come forth from their graves in haste as if they were hurrying to a goal |
| 70:44 | | Downcast will be their eyes, abasement overwhelming them. That is the Day that they have been repeatedly promised |
