Surah Al-Maarij (المعارج) is a Meccan surah of the Quran with 44 verses. Read, listen and memorize this surah with our interactive tools.
Updated on 07 March 2026 at 4:16 PM
📖 2 min readWhat deterrent is there from His love, and what consequence follows from it, for that will never be the case in any way. Since the implication came before the mention, to magnify what was implied in the context in which it was, because that is an indication that it is present in the mind and does not disappear due to the great significance of the situation, He said after this great deterrent from salvation, or even from desired affection: {إنها} - that is, the Fire which is the whip of the King prepared for those who disobey Him, the one threatened in this context with its punishment, which has taken hold of him to be his prison: {لظى} - that is, having pure and intense flames that blaze and consume, so much so that if it does not find something to consume, it consumes its own flames, and it consumes whatever it finds, no matter what it is. {نزاعة للشوى} - that is, it is intensely stripping the skin from the tops of the heads, so what can be expected of other skin? According to the Qamus, 'ash-shawwa' refers to the hands, feet, limbs, and the skin of the head, and anything that is not burned - and it is said that it refers to all the skin and flesh, which are stripped away and then return to their original state, so they may see the hardship they are suffering.
They are people who forget their own flaws and are not grateful for their blessings. The prayer is a sufficient blessing in its indication of salvation from this description, which necessitates the causes of the Fire. It is an act of worship with conditions, pillars, and integral parts, as well as states and Sunnahs and etiquettes, beginning with the takbir and ending with the taslim. The prayer is divided into that which has bowing and prostration, and that which has prostration without bowing, such as the prostration of gratitude and recitation, and that which has neither bowing nor prostration, such as the funeral prayer. When He mentioned the zakat of the soul, He then mentioned the zakat of its counterpart, wealth, saying, explaining the firm establishment of the description with the conjunction 'and': {And those who have a specified right in their wealth} - that is, the wealth with which He, the Exalted, has blessed them. Since the context here is more general than the doers of good who were mentioned earlier in {adh-Dhariyat}, He restricted it to the obligatory zakat, saying: {known} - that is, from the zakats and all the obligatory expenditures. Since the question involves giving one's face and humbling one's soul, which necessitates gentleness while protecting the soul from blame, He said: {For the beggar} - that is, the one who strives to ask for expenditure while being modest. Since there are people whose dignity is elevated and whose rank is high, above the abyss of degradation, and who consider asking to be a reduction in the means of approaching Allah, He said: {And the deprived} - that is, the one who is chaste.
And when this preservation is mentioned in this manner, what is permitted in the style of exception is mentioned, indicating that it is as if it had not been mentioned, so it only exits after the generalization is confirmed
He met them on the day of Banu Qurayzah, 'Ali, may God be pleased with him, had preceded him to them and said: O Messenger of God, why do you not keep away from these vile people? He said: Why, perhaps you have heard me being insulted by them, if I had approached them, they would not have said anything. Then he approached them and said: Has God humiliated you, O brothers of monkeys and pigs? They said: Be quiet, Abu al-Qasim, you were not ignorant. And they spoke to him in the best way they could, just as the Quraysh had done with him before the migration in most situations. This is in the worldly life, but in the afterlife, the angels will meet them with good news at the time of death and in their graves, and from the time they rise from their graves until they enter their palaces. And when this divine speech is freed, which a rational person doubts that a creature can do, and that no one can do it except God, the One who has no partner, the Knower of all things, the Powerful over all things, it does not escape the deficiencies of man until he is freed from the darkness of deficiency to the light of beneficence, except for those who adhere to these characteristics and purify themselves with them to become perfect. With the certain knowledge of the Muslim and the disbeliever that perfection is the cause of happiness, and that man is created with the deficiencies that God has decreed, it is known that those who are characterized by these characteristics are the ones who are distinguished by eternal happiness. The disbelievers used to come to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and sit around him, close to him, to hear his words and deny them and mock him. And it is not fitting for a rational person to come with something, especially if his coming to him is based on {الآية}
This is about the destruction of those who were warned and the replacement of their good with evil, and about the power to bring about the Day of Judgment, which they were warned about but turned away from and denied, and about which they were unconcerned. The naming of it after Prophet Noah, peace be upon him, is the clearest indication of this, for his story in this surah is a matter of record, concerning the destruction of his people due to their denial of him. In the name of God, the One who possesses all perfection, majesty, and honor, the Most Gracious, who has bestowed abundant blessings, and the Most Merciful, who has reserved obedience for His close allies from the beginning and will complete His blessing upon them in the end.
Read the full surah text
سَأَلَ سَآئِلٌۢ بِعَذَابٍۢ وَاقِعٍۢ ﴿١﴾
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen
لِّلْكَـٰفِرِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُۥ دَافِعٌۭ ﴿٢﴾
To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer.
مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ذِى ٱلْمَعَارِجِ ﴿٣﴾
[It is] from Allah, owner of the ways of ascent.
تَعْرُجُ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ وَٱلرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ فِى يَوْمٍۢ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُۥ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍۢ ﴿٤﴾
The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years.
فَٱصْبِرْ صَبْرًۭا جَمِيلًا ﴿٥﴾
So be patient with gracious patience.
إِنَّهُمْ يَرَوْنَهُۥ بَعِيدًۭا ﴿٦﴾
Indeed, they see it [as] distant,
وَنَرَىٰهُ قَرِيبًۭا ﴿٧﴾
But We see it [as] near.
يَوْمَ تَكُونُ ٱلسَّمَآءُ كَٱلْمُهْلِ ﴿٨﴾
On the Day the sky will be like murky oil,
وَتَكُونُ ٱلْجِبَالُ كَٱلْعِهْنِ ﴿٩﴾
And the mountains will be like wool,
وَلَا يَسْـَٔلُ حَمِيمٌ حَمِيمًۭا ﴿١٠﴾
And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend,
يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ۚ يَوَدُّ ٱلْمُجْرِمُ لَوْ يَفْتَدِى مِنْ عَذَابِ يَوْمِئِذٍۭ بِبَنِيهِ ﴿١١﴾
They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children
وَصَـٰحِبَتِهِۦ وَأَخِيهِ ﴿١٢﴾
And his wife and his brother
وَفَصِيلَتِهِ ٱلَّتِى تُـْٔوِيهِ ﴿١٣﴾
And his nearest kindred who shelter him
وَمَن فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًۭا ثُمَّ يُنجِيهِ ﴿١٤﴾
And whoever is on earth entirely [so] then it could save him.
كَلَّآ ۖ إِنَّهَا لَظَىٰ ﴿١٥﴾
No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell],
نَزَّاعَةًۭ لِّلشَّوَىٰ ﴿١٦﴾
A remover of exteriors.
تَدْعُوا۟ مَنْ أَدْبَرَ وَتَوَلَّىٰ ﴿١٧﴾
It invites he who turned his back [on truth] and went away [from obedience]
وَجَمَعَ فَأَوْعَىٰٓ ﴿١٨﴾
And collected [wealth] and hoarded.
۞ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا ﴿١٩﴾
Indeed, mankind was created anxious:
إِذَا مَسَّهُ ٱلشَّرُّ جَزُوعًۭا ﴿٢٠﴾
When evil touches him, impatient,
وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ ٱلْخَيْرُ مَنُوعًا ﴿٢١﴾
And when good touches him, withholding [of it],
إِلَّا ٱلْمُصَلِّينَ ﴿٢٢﴾
Except the observers of prayer -
ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ دَآئِمُونَ ﴿٢٣﴾
Those who are constant in their prayer
وَٱلَّذِينَ فِىٓ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ حَقٌّۭ مَّعْلُومٌۭ ﴿٢٤﴾
And those within whose wealth is a known right
لِّلسَّآئِلِ وَٱلْمَحْرُومِ ﴿٢٥﴾
For the petitioner and the deprived -
وَٱلَّذِينَ يُصَدِّقُونَ بِيَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ﴿٢٦﴾
And those who believe in the Day of Recompense
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم مِّنْ عَذَابِ رَبِّهِم مُّشْفِقُونَ ﴿٢٧﴾
And those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord -
إِنَّ عَذَابَ رَبِّهِمْ غَيْرُ مَأْمُونٍۢ ﴿٢٨﴾
Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe -
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِفُرُوجِهِمْ حَـٰفِظُونَ ﴿٢٩﴾
And those who guard their private parts
إِلَّا عَلَىٰٓ أَزْوَٰجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَـٰنُهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ غَيْرُ مَلُومِينَ ﴿٣٠﴾
Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed -
فَمَنِ ٱبْتَغَىٰ وَرَآءَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْعَادُونَ ﴿٣١﴾
But whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors -
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِأَمَـٰنَـٰتِهِمْ وَعَهْدِهِمْ رَٰعُونَ ﴿٣٢﴾
And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم بِشَهَـٰدَٰتِهِمْ قَآئِمُونَ ﴿٣٣﴾
And those who are in their testimonies upright
وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ ﴿٣٤﴾
And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer:
أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ فِى جَنَّـٰتٍۢ مُّكْرَمُونَ ﴿٣٥﴾
They will be in gardens, honored.
فَمَالِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ قِبَلَكَ مُهْطِعِينَ ﴿٣٦﴾
So what is [the matter] with those who disbelieve, hastening [from] before you, [O Muhammad],
عَنِ ٱلْيَمِينِ وَعَنِ ٱلشِّمَالِ عِزِينَ ﴿٣٧﴾
[To sit] on [your] right and [your] left in separate groups?
أَيَطْمَعُ كُلُّ ٱمْرِئٍۢ مِّنْهُمْ أَن يُدْخَلَ جَنَّةَ نَعِيمٍۢ ﴿٣٨﴾
Does every person among them aspire to enter a garden of pleasure?
كَلَّآ ۖ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَـٰهُم مِّمَّا يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٣٩﴾
No! Indeed, We have created them from that which they know.
فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِرَبِّ ٱلْمَشَـٰرِقِ وَٱلْمَغَـٰرِبِ إِنَّا لَقَـٰدِرُونَ ﴿٤٠﴾
So I swear by the Lord of [all] risings and settings that indeed We are able
عَلَىٰٓ أَن نُّبَدِّلَ خَيْرًۭا مِّنْهُمْ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَسْبُوقِينَ ﴿٤١﴾
To replace them with better than them; and We are not to be outdone.
فَذَرْهُمْ يَخُوضُوا۟ وَيَلْعَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يُلَـٰقُوا۟ يَوْمَهُمُ ٱلَّذِى يُوعَدُونَ ﴿٤٢﴾
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 ﴿٤٣﴾
The Day they will emerge from the graves rapidly as if they were, toward an erected idol, hastening.
خَـٰشِعَةً أَبْصَـٰرُهُمْ تَرْهَقُهُمْ ذِلَّةٌۭ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْيَوْمُ ٱلَّذِى كَانُوا۟ يُوعَدُونَ ﴿٤٤﴾
Their eyes humbled, humiliation will cover them. That is the Day which they had been promised.