المعارج

Surah Al-Ma'arij, meaning "The Ascending Stairways" or "The Ways of Ascent," is the 70th chapter of the Quran and consists of 44 verses revealed in Mecca during a period when the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) faced intense opposition and mockery from the Quraysh. The surah opens with a striking scene in which a questioner demands the hastening of divine punishment, challenging the Prophet's warnings about the Day of Judgment. This demand is traditionally attributed to one of the prominent disbelievers of Mecca, often identified as al-Nadr ibn al-Harith or Abu Jahl, who sarcastically asked for God's torment to descend upon them if the message were truly from God. In response, the surah affirms that the punishment is indeed inevitable and will come from God, the Lord of the ascending stairways — a reference to the lofty pathways through which angels and the Spirit ascend to Him. The surah emphasizes that what the disbelievers perceive as distant is, in God's reckoning, near, as a day in His sight is likened to fifty thousand years, establishing the vast difference between divine and human perception of time. A central theme of the surah is its vivid and sobering depiction of the Day of Judgment and the fundamental nature of the human being. The surah describes that terrifying Day when the sky will become like molten brass and the mountains like tufts of colored wool, and when no close friend will inquire about another, even though they will be within sight of each other. The guilty person will wish to ransom himself from the punishment by offering his own children, spouse, brother, and entire tribe — indeed, everything on earth — yet nothing will avail him. The surah then transitions into a profound psychological observation about human nature, declaring that the human being was created anxious and impatient: when afflicted with hardship, he is full of complaint and distress, and when blessed with good fortune, he becomes miserly and withholding. This diagnosis of the human condition is remarkable in its directness, and it sets the stage for describing those who are exempt from this spiritual weakness — those who are constant in their prayers and mindful of their duties. The surah then outlines the qualities of the righteous believers who transcend the base tendencies of human nature. These are those who maintain regular and devoted prayer, who recognize in their wealth a due right for those who ask and those who are deprived, who affirm the reality of the Day of Judgment and live in conscious awareness of God's accountability, who guard their chastity and honor their trusts and covenants, and who stand firm in their testimony to truth