سُورَةُ المَعَارِجِ
Surah 70 - Al-Ma'aarij
The Ascending Stairways
- 44 verses
- Juz 29
- Pages 568 to 570 of the Mushaf
Al-Ma'aarij starts from a demand: someone calls for a punishment, and the answer says where it comes from - from Allah, the one of the ways of ascent, which angels and the Spirit climb in a day counted in tens of thousands of years. Then comes a day when the sky runs like metal, when no close friend asks after a close friend though they see one another, and when the guilty would hand over his children and then his clan to get free. The middle states a trait of man, caught between collapse and refusal to give, then opens an exception: thirteen verses describe those who pray, and prayer both opens and closes that list. The end describes the coming out of graves.
The main parts
The text of the surah
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ سَأَلَ سَآئِلٌۢ بِعَذَابٍۢ وَاقِعٍۢ
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen
لِّلْكَٰفِرِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُۥ دَافِعٌۭ
To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer.
مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ذِى ٱلْمَعَارِجِ
[It is] from Allah, owner of the ways of ascent.
تَعْرُجُ ٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةُ وَٱلرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ فِى يَوْمٍۢ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُۥ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍۢ
The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years.
فَٱصْبِرْ صَبْرًۭا جَمِيلًا
So be patient with gracious patience.
إِنَّهُمْ يَرَوْنَهُۥ بَعِيدًۭا
Indeed, they see it [as] distant,
وَنَرَىٰهُ قَرِيبًۭا
But We see it [as] near.
يَوْمَ تَكُونُ ٱلسَّمَآءُ كَٱلْمُهْلِ
On the Day the sky will be like murky oil,
وَتَكُونُ ٱلْجِبَالُ كَٱلْعِهْنِ
And the mountains will be like wool,
وَلَا يَسْـَٔلُ حَمِيمٌ حَمِيمًۭا
And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend,
يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ۚ يَوَدُّ ٱلْمُجْرِمُ لَوْ يَفْتَدِى مِنْ عَذَابِ يَوْمِئِذٍۭ 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
وَصَٰحِبَتِهِۦ وَأَخِيهِ
And his wife and his brother
وَفَصِيلَتِهِ ٱلَّتِى تُـْٔوِيهِ
And his nearest kindred who shelter him
وَمَن فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًۭا ثُمَّ يُنجِيهِ
And whoever is on earth entirely [so] then it could save him.
كَلَّآ ۖ إِنَّهَا لَظَىٰ
No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell],
نَزَّاعَةًۭ لِّلشَّوَىٰ
A remover of exteriors.
تَدْعُوا۟ مَنْ أَدْبَرَ وَتَوَلَّىٰ
It invites he who turned his back [on truth] and went away [from obedience]
وَجَمَعَ فَأَوْعَىٰٓ
And collected [wealth] and hoarded.
۞ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا
Indeed, mankind was created anxious:
إِذَا مَسَّهُ ٱلشَّرُّ جَزُوعًۭا
When evil touches him, impatient,
وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ ٱلْخَيْرُ مَنُوعًا
And when good touches him, withholding [of it],
إِلَّا ٱلْمُصَلِّينَ
Except the observers of prayer -
ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ دَآئِمُونَ
Those who are constant in their prayer
وَٱلَّذِينَ فِىٓ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ حَقٌّۭ مَّعْلُومٌۭ
And those within whose wealth is a known right
لِّلسَّآئِلِ وَٱلْمَحْرُومِ
For the petitioner and the deprived -
وَٱلَّذِينَ يُصَدِّقُونَ بِيَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ
And those who believe in the Day of Recompense
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم مِّنْ عَذَابِ رَبِّهِم مُّشْفِقُونَ
And those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord -
إِنَّ عَذَابَ رَبِّهِمْ غَيْرُ مَأْمُونٍۢ
Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe -
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِفُرُوجِهِمْ حَٰفِظُونَ
And those who guard their private parts
إِلَّا عَلَىٰٓ أَزْوَٰجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ غَيْرُ مَلُومِينَ
Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed -
فَمَنِ ٱبْتَغَىٰ وَرَآءَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْعَادُونَ
But whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors -
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِأَمَٰنَٰتِهِمْ وَعَهْدِهِمْ رَٰعُونَ
And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم بِشَهَٰدَٰتِهِمْ قَآئِمُونَ
And those who are in their testimonies upright
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ
And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer:
أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ فِى جَنَّٰتٍۢ مُّكْرَمُونَ
They will be in gardens, honored.
فَمَالِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ قِبَلَكَ مُهْطِعِينَ
So what is [the matter] with those who disbelieve, hastening [from] before you, [O Muhammad],
عَنِ ٱلْيَمِينِ وَعَنِ ٱلشِّمَالِ عِزِينَ
[To sit] on [your] right and [your] left in separate groups?
أَيَطْمَعُ كُلُّ ٱمْرِئٍۢ مِّنْهُمْ أَن يُدْخَلَ جَنَّةَ نَعِيمٍۢ
Does every person among them aspire to enter a garden of pleasure?
كَلَّآ ۖ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰهُم مِّمَّا يَعْلَمُونَ
No! Indeed, We have created them from that which they know.
فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِرَبِّ ٱلْمَشَٰرِقِ وَٱلْمَغَٰرِبِ إِنَّا لَقَٰدِرُونَ
So I swear by the Lord of [all] risings and settings that indeed We are able
عَلَىٰٓ أَن نُّبَدِّلَ خَيْرًۭا مِّنْهُمْ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَسْبُوقِينَ
To replace them with better than them; and We are not to be outdone.
فَذَرْهُمْ يَخُوضُوا۟ وَيَلْعَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يُلَٰقُوا۟ يَوْمَهُمُ ٱلَّذِى يُوعَدُونَ
So leave them to converse vainly and amuse themselves until they meet their Day which they are promised -
يَوْمَ يَخْرُجُونَ مِنَ ٱلْأَجْدَاثِ سِرَاعًۭا كَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَىٰ نُصُبٍۢ يُوفِضُونَ
The Day they will emerge from the graves rapidly as if they were, toward an erected idol, hastening.
خَٰشِعَةً أَبْصَٰرُهُمْ تَرْهَقُهُمْ ذِلَّةٌۭ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْيَوْمُ ٱلَّذِى كَانُوا۟ يُوعَدُونَ
Their eyes humbled, humiliation will cover them. That is the Day which they had been promised.
Key verses of the surah
The verse that measures the ascent of the angels and the Spirit, giving the day a length in figures.
تَعْرُجُ ٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةُ وَٱلرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ فِى يَوْمٍۢ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُۥ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍۢ
The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years.
The hinge of the surah: a trait given to man, which the next verses at once qualify with an exception.
۞ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا
Indeed, mankind was created anxious:
The start of the exception: a list of thirteen verses that prayer opens and closes.
إِلَّا ٱلْمُصَلِّينَ
Except the observers of prayer -
What is surah Al-Ma'aarij about?
Of a distance and a wait. What is demanded in defiance is shown as far off in their eyes and near in the text's; between the two sits a portrait of the human being and the list of those who form an exception.
What does surah Al-Ma'aarij say about man?
Verse 19 gives him a restless nature, spelled out by two matching reactions in the next verse: laid low when harm reaches him, shut tight when good comes to him. Verse 22 at once opens an exception, running as far as verse 34.
How is surah Al-Ma'aarij built?
In four parts of similar length. A question put by an objector, a scene of separation, a list of qualities bounded at both ends by prayer, an oath and a closing image. Verses 42 and 44 repeat the same wording about the promised day.
How does surah Al-Ma'aarij end?
With an image of running: bodies leave the graves and rush as toward a set marker, eyes cast down. The last clause takes up the wording already used in verse 42, closing the surah on what had been promised.
Why is surah Al-Ma'aarij called that?
“Al-Ma'aarij” is rendered “the Ways of Ascent” or “the Stairways”. The word appears once only, in verse 70:3, where it qualifies Allah, right before the verse describing angels and the Spirit going up to him.
How many verses does surah Al-Ma'aarij have?
Surah Al-Ma'aarij has 44 verses. It stands at number 70 in the order of the Mushaf, which holds 114.
The Arabic text is that of the Mushaf. The summary, the outline and the answers on this page describe the text and how it is built: they are not religious commentary.