{
  "number": 70,
  "slug": "maarij",
  "name": "Al-Ma‘arij",
  "arabicName": "المعارج",
  "meaning": "The Ascending Stairways",
  "period": "Makkan",
  "juz": 29,
  "tagline": "PATIENT ENDURANCE, GENEROSITY & THE FINAL ACCOUNT",
  "overview": "A challenge about judgment opens a vision of time and upheaval. Against fear, hoarding, and false confidence, the surah describes a life formed by steady prayer, acknowledged rights in wealth, faithful promises, and honest testimony.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Arabic text · quranjson (MIT)",
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/semarketir/quranjson/master/source/surah/surah_70.json"
    },
    {
      "title": "Sahih International · English translation (AlQuran Cloud)",
      "url": "https://alquran.cloud/quran/en.sahih"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=37"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=41"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=44"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=24"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=29"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=32"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=5"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=11"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=18"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=70&verse=1"
    },
    {
      "title": "Surah introduction · Quran.com",
      "url": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/info"
    },
    {
      "title": "The measure of the Day · Ma’arif al-Qur’an",
      "url": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/4/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran"
    },
    {
      "title": "The acknowledged right in wealth · Ma’arif al-Qur’an",
      "url": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/29/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran"
    },
    {
      "title": "Historical wording in verse 30 · Quran.com",
      "url": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/30"
    },
    {
      "title": "622 CE Hijrah boundary · Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
      "url": "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Hejira"
    }
  ],
  "verses": [
    {
      "n": 1,
      "arabic": "سَأَلَ سَآئِلٌۢ بِعَذَابٍۢ وَاقِعٍۢ",
      "translation": "A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen"
    },
    {
      "n": 2,
      "arabic": "لِّلْكَٰفِرِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُۥ دَافِعٌۭ",
      "translation": "To the disbelievers; of it there is no preventer."
    },
    {
      "n": 3,
      "arabic": "مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ذِى ٱلْمَعَارِجِ",
      "translation": "[It is] from Allah, owner of the ways of ascent."
    },
    {
      "n": 4,
      "arabic": "تَعْرُجُ ٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةُ وَٱلرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ فِى يَوْمٍۢ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُۥ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍۢ",
      "translation": "The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years."
    },
    {
      "n": 5,
      "arabic": "فَٱصْبِرْ صَبْرًۭا جَمِيلًا",
      "translation": "So be patient with gracious patience."
    },
    {
      "n": 6,
      "arabic": "إِنَّهُمْ يَرَوْنَهُۥ بَعِيدًۭا",
      "translation": "Indeed, they see it [as] distant,"
    },
    {
      "n": 7,
      "arabic": "وَنَرَىٰهُ قَرِيبًۭا",
      "translation": "But We see it [as] near."
    },
    {
      "n": 8,
      "arabic": "يَوْمَ تَكُونُ ٱلسَّمَآءُ كَٱلْمُهْلِ",
      "translation": "On the Day the sky will be like murky oil,"
    },
    {
      "n": 9,
      "arabic": "وَتَكُونُ ٱلْجِبَالُ كَٱلْعِهْنِ",
      "translation": "And the mountains will be like wool,"
    },
    {
      "n": 10,
      "arabic": "وَلَا يَسْـَٔلُ حَمِيمٌ حَمِيمًۭا",
      "translation": "And no friend will ask [anything of] a friend,"
    },
    {
      "n": 11,
      "arabic": "يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ۚ يَوَدُّ ٱلْمُجْرِمُ لَوْ يَفْتَدِى مِنْ عَذَابِ يَوْمِئِذٍۭ بِبَنِيهِ",
      "translation": "They will be shown each other. The criminal will wish that he could be ransomed from the punishment of that Day by his children"
    },
    {
      "n": 12,
      "arabic": "وَصَٰحِبَتِهِۦ وَأَخِيهِ",
      "translation": "And his wife and his brother"
    },
    {
      "n": 13,
      "arabic": "وَفَصِيلَتِهِ ٱلَّتِى تُـْٔوِيهِ",
      "translation": "And his nearest kindred who shelter him"
    },
    {
      "n": 14,
      "arabic": "وَمَن فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًۭا ثُمَّ يُنجِيهِ",
      "translation": "And whoever is on earth entirely [so] then it could save him."
    },
    {
      "n": 15,
      "arabic": "كَلَّآ ۖ إِنَّهَا لَظَىٰ",
      "translation": "No! Indeed, it is the Flame [of Hell],"
    },
    {
      "n": 16,
      "arabic": "نَزَّاعَةًۭ لِّلشَّوَىٰ",
      "translation": "A remover of exteriors."
    },
    {
      "n": 17,
      "arabic": "تَدْعُوا۟ مَنْ أَدْبَرَ وَتَوَلَّىٰ",
      "translation": "It invites he who turned his back [on truth] and went away [from obedience]"
    },
    {
      "n": 18,
      "arabic": "وَجَمَعَ فَأَوْعَىٰٓ",
      "translation": "And collected [wealth] and hoarded."
    },
    {
      "n": 19,
      "arabic": "۞ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا",
      "translation": "Indeed, mankind was created anxious:"
    },
    {
      "n": 20,
      "arabic": "إِذَا مَسَّهُ ٱلشَّرُّ جَزُوعًۭا",
      "translation": "When evil touches him, impatient,"
    },
    {
      "n": 21,
      "arabic": "وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ ٱلْخَيْرُ مَنُوعًا",
      "translation": "And when good touches him, withholding [of it],"
    },
    {
      "n": 22,
      "arabic": "إِلَّا ٱلْمُصَلِّينَ",
      "translation": "Except the observers of prayer -"
    },
    {
      "n": 23,
      "arabic": "ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ دَآئِمُونَ",
      "translation": "Those who are constant in their prayer"
    },
    {
      "n": 24,
      "arabic": "وَٱلَّذِينَ فِىٓ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ حَقٌّۭ مَّعْلُومٌۭ",
      "translation": "And those within whose wealth is a known right"
    },
    {
      "n": 25,
      "arabic": "لِّلسَّآئِلِ وَٱلْمَحْرُومِ",
      "translation": "For the petitioner and the deprived -"
    },
    {
      "n": 26,
      "arabic": "وَٱلَّذِينَ يُصَدِّقُونَ بِيَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ",
      "translation": "And those who believe in the Day of Recompense"
    },
    {
      "n": 27,
      "arabic": "وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم مِّنْ عَذَابِ رَبِّهِم مُّشْفِقُونَ",
      "translation": "And those who are fearful of the punishment of their Lord -"
    },
    {
      "n": 28,
      "arabic": "إِنَّ عَذَابَ رَبِّهِمْ غَيْرُ مَأْمُونٍۢ",
      "translation": "Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not that from which one is safe -"
    },
    {
      "n": 29,
      "arabic": "وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِفُرُوجِهِمْ حَٰفِظُونَ",
      "translation": "And those who guard their private parts"
    },
    {
      "n": 30,
      "arabic": "إِلَّا عَلَىٰٓ أَزْوَٰجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ غَيْرُ مَلُومِينَ",
      "translation": "Except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed -"
    },
    {
      "n": 31,
      "arabic": "فَمَنِ ٱبْتَغَىٰ وَرَآءَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْعَادُونَ",
      "translation": "But whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors -"
    },
    {
      "n": 32,
      "arabic": "وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِأَمَٰنَٰتِهِمْ وَعَهْدِهِمْ رَٰعُونَ",
      "translation": "And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive"
    },
    {
      "n": 33,
      "arabic": "وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم بِشَهَٰدَٰتِهِمْ قَآئِمُونَ",
      "translation": "And those who are in their testimonies upright"
    },
    {
      "n": 34,
      "arabic": "وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ",
      "translation": "And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer:"
    },
    {
      "n": 35,
      "arabic": "أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ فِى جَنَّٰتٍۢ مُّكْرَمُونَ",
      "translation": "They will be in gardens, honored."
    },
    {
      "n": 36,
      "arabic": "فَمَالِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ قِبَلَكَ مُهْطِعِينَ",
      "translation": "So what is [the matter] with those who disbelieve, hastening [from] before you, [O Muhammad],"
    },
    {
      "n": 37,
      "arabic": "عَنِ ٱلْيَمِينِ وَعَنِ ٱلشِّمَالِ عِزِينَ",
      "translation": "[To sit] on [your] right and [your] left in separate groups?"
    },
    {
      "n": 38,
      "arabic": "أَيَطْمَعُ كُلُّ ٱمْرِئٍۢ مِّنْهُمْ أَن يُدْخَلَ جَنَّةَ نَعِيمٍۢ",
      "translation": "Does every person among them aspire to enter a garden of pleasure?"
    },
    {
      "n": 39,
      "arabic": "كَلَّآ ۖ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰهُم مِّمَّا يَعْلَمُونَ",
      "translation": "No! Indeed, We have created them from that which they know."
    },
    {
      "n": 40,
      "arabic": "فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِرَبِّ ٱلْمَشَٰرِقِ وَٱلْمَغَٰرِبِ إِنَّا لَقَٰدِرُونَ",
      "translation": "So I swear by the Lord of [all] risings and settings that indeed We are able"
    },
    {
      "n": 41,
      "arabic": "عَلَىٰٓ أَن نُّبَدِّلَ خَيْرًۭا مِّنْهُمْ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَسْبُوقِينَ",
      "translation": "To replace them with better than them; and We are not to be outdone."
    },
    {
      "n": 42,
      "arabic": "فَذَرْهُمْ يَخُوضُوا۟ وَيَلْعَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يُلَٰقُوا۟ يَوْمَهُمُ ٱلَّذِى يُوعَدُونَ",
      "translation": "So leave them to converse vainly and amuse themselves until they meet their Day which they are promised -"
    },
    {
      "n": 43,
      "arabic": "يَوْمَ يَخْرُجُونَ مِنَ ٱلْأَجْدَاثِ سِرَاعًۭا كَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَىٰ نُصُبٍۢ يُوفِضُونَ",
      "translation": "The Day they will emerge from the graves rapidly as if they were, toward an erected idol, hastening."
    },
    {
      "n": 44,
      "arabic": "خَٰشِعَةً أَبْصَٰرُهُمْ تَرْهَقُهُمْ ذِلَّةٌۭ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْيَوْمُ ٱلَّذِى كَانُوا۟ يُوعَدُونَ",
      "translation": "Their eyes humbled, humiliation will cover them. That is the Day which they had been promised."
    }
  ],
  "glosses": [
    [
      "Asked",
      "a questioner",
      "about a punishment",
      "bound to happen"
    ],
    [
      "To the disbelievers,",
      "not",
      "of it",
      "any preventer."
    ],
    [
      "From",
      "Allah,",
      "Owner",
      "(of) the ways of ascent."
    ],
    [
      "Ascend",
      "the Angels",
      "and the Spirit",
      "to Him",
      "in",
      "a Day,",
      "[is]",
      "its measure",
      "(is) fifty",
      "thousand",
      "year(s)."
    ],
    [
      "So be patient,",
      "a patience",
      "good."
    ],
    [
      "Indeed, they",
      "see it",
      "(as) far off."
    ],
    [
      "But We see it",
      "near."
    ],
    [
      "(The) Day -",
      "will be",
      "the sky",
      "like molten copper,"
    ],
    [
      "And will be",
      "the mountains",
      "like wool,"
    ],
    [
      "And not",
      "will ask",
      "a friend",
      "(about) a friend."
    ],
    [
      "They will be made to see each other.",
      "Would wish",
      "the criminal",
      "if",
      "he (could be) ransomed",
      "from",
      "(the) punishment",
      "(of) that Day",
      "by his children,"
    ],
    [
      "And his spouse",
      "and his brother,"
    ],
    [
      "And his nearest kindred",
      "who",
      "sheltered him,"
    ],
    [
      "And whoever",
      "(is) on",
      "the earth",
      "all,",
      "then",
      "it (could) save him."
    ],
    [
      "By no means!",
      "Indeed, it (is)",
      "surely a Flame of Hell,"
    ],
    [
      "A remover",
      "of the skin of the head,"
    ],
    [
      "Inviting",
      "(him) who",
      "turned his back",
      "and went away"
    ],
    [
      "And collected",
      "and hoarded."
    ],
    [
      "Indeed,",
      "the man",
      "was created",
      "anxious -"
    ],
    [
      "When",
      "touches him",
      "the evil,",
      "distressed."
    ],
    [
      "And when",
      "touches him",
      "the good,",
      "withholding,"
    ],
    [
      "Except",
      "those who pray -"
    ],
    [
      "Those who",
      "[they]",
      "at",
      "their prayer",
      "(are) constant,"
    ],
    [
      "And those who",
      "in",
      "their wealth",
      "(is) a right",
      "known,"
    ],
    [
      "For the one who asks",
      "and the deprived,"
    ],
    [
      "And those who",
      "accept (the) truth",
      "(of the) Day",
      "(of) the Judgment,"
    ],
    [
      "And those who",
      "[they]",
      "of",
      "(the) punishment",
      "(of) their Lord",
      "(are) fearful -"
    ],
    [
      "Indeed,",
      "(the) punishment",
      "(of) your Lord",
      "(is) not",
      "to be felt secure (of) -"
    ],
    [
      "And those who",
      "[they]",
      "their modesty",
      "(are) guardians,"
    ],
    [
      "Except",
      "from",
      "their spouses",
      "or",
      "what",
      "they possess",
      "rightfully",
      "then indeed, they",
      "(are) not",
      "blameworthy,"
    ],
    [
      "But whoever",
      "seeks",
      "beyond",
      "that,",
      "then those",
      "[they]",
      "(are) the transgressors -"
    ],
    [
      "And those who",
      "[they]",
      "of their trusts",
      "and their promise",
      "(are) observers,"
    ],
    [
      "And those who",
      "[they]",
      "in their testimonies",
      "stand firm,"
    ],
    [
      "And those who,",
      "[they]",
      "on",
      "their prayer",
      "keep a guard -"
    ],
    [
      "Those",
      "(will be) in",
      "Gardens,",
      "honored."
    ],
    [
      "So what is with",
      "those who",
      "disbelieve,",
      "before you",
      "(they) hasten,"
    ],
    [
      "On",
      "the right",
      "and on",
      "the left,",
      "(in) separate groups?"
    ],
    [
      "Does long",
      "every",
      "person,",
      "among them",
      "that",
      "he enters",
      "a Garden",
      "(of) Delight?"
    ],
    [
      "By no means!",
      "Indeed, We",
      "[We] have created them",
      "from what",
      "they know."
    ],
    [
      "But nay!",
      "I swear",
      "by (the) Lord",
      "(of) the risings",
      "and the settings,",
      "that We",
      "(are) surely Able"
    ],
    [
      "[On]",
      "to",
      "[We] replace",
      "(with) better",
      "than them;",
      "and not",
      "We",
      "(are) to be outrun."
    ],
    [
      "So leave them",
      "(to) converse vainly",
      "and amuse themselves",
      "until",
      "they meet",
      "their Day,",
      "which",
      "they are promised,"
    ],
    [
      "(The) Day",
      "they will come out",
      "from",
      "the graves",
      "rapidly",
      "as if they (were)",
      "to",
      "a goal",
      "hastening,"
    ],
    [
      "Humbled",
      "their eyesights,",
      "will cover them",
      "humiliation.",
      "That",
      "(is) the Day",
      "which",
      "they were",
      "promised."
    ]
  ],
  "titles": [
    "A question about the coming judgment",
    "A consequence no one can repel",
    "The Lord of the ascending ways",
    "A Day beyond ordinary measures",
    "A beautiful patience",
    "What seems far away",
    "What is known to be near",
    "The sky like molten metal",
    "Mountains like loosened wool",
    "Familiar bonds under strain",
    "The impossible ransom begins",
    "Even the closest family",
    "The kin who once sheltered",
    "A ransom as wide as the earth",
    "No purchase of escape",
    "The consuming warning",
    "Turning away and retreating",
    "Hoarding and withholding",
    "The human tendency to anxiety",
    "Distress in adversity",
    "Withholding in prosperity",
    "The exception of worship",
    "Prayer maintained over time",
    "An acknowledged right in wealth",
    "Those who ask and those in need",
    "Belief in the Day of account",
    "A sober awareness of judgment",
    "No ground for complacency",
    "Guarding intimate conduct",
    "A verse in its historical social setting",
    "The boundary of transgression",
    "Keeping trusts and covenants",
    "Standing by truthful testimony",
    "Attending carefully to prayer",
    "An honored welcome",
    "The fixed gaze of opponents",
    "Gathering from either side",
    "An unearned expectation",
    "Remembering a shared beginning",
    "The Lord of risings and settings",
    "The power to replace",
    "Time allowed until the promised Day",
    "A hurried emergence from graves",
    "The promised encounter arrives"
  ],
  "notes": [
    "The chapter begins with someone questioning the threatened judgment. No personal name is supplied in this verse. The challenge introduces a larger question about how people respond when a consequence seems distant or easy to dismiss.",
    "The coming consequence cannot be repelled by those addressed. The sentence continues the opening rather than beginning a separate scene. Its force lies in the contrast between present confidence and the absence of a future escape.",
    "Allah is named as Lord of the ascending ways, the expression from which the surah takes its title. The next verse develops the theme of ascent. No physical stairway on an earthly map is identified.",
    "The angels and the Spirit ascend in a Day measured as fifty thousand years. Commentary relates this to judgment. The passage does not supply a date for the Hour or a formula for converting revelation into modern physics.",
    "The response requested of the messenger is a beautiful patience. It follows the immense scale of the preceding verse. The instruction makes endurance an active manner of carrying responsibility when an audience remains impatient or dismissive.",
    "The opponents see the event as far away. That perception helps explain their present confidence, but it does not settle the truth of what is promised. The next verse directly contrasts their limited assessment.",
    "The promised event is seen as near from the divine perspective. Read with the preceding verse, the point is the difference in knowledge and assessment. It is not a calendar clue from which to announce a date.",
    "The sky is compared to molten metal as the account turns to cosmic upheaval. A familiar image suggests the loss of ordinary stability. An illustration can evoke that disruption without claiming to document the unseen future.",
    "Mountains become like wool, reversing their usual association with weight and permanence. The comparison continues the unsettling scene above. What people normally rely on as fixed becomes unable to offer familiar security.",
    "Close friends no longer ask after one another in the ordinary way. The scene conveys overwhelming personal accountability. It does not deny the importance of friendship now; it shows its limits as a substitute for one’s own response.",
    "Even when people see one another, the guilty person imagines surrendering children as a ransom. The verse exposes desperation rather than approving a transaction. The following lines widen the imagined price without granting escape.",
    "Spouse and brother enter the imagined ransom. The closest relationships are named in a sequence that shows how completely self-preservation can eclipse loyalty. No family member can actually be exchanged to cancel another person’s responsibility.",
    "The kin who once offered shelter are included in the desperate wish. Social protection has reached its limit. The sequence asks the reader to consider what remains when belonging and influence cannot remove an account.",
    "The imagined ransom expands to everyone on earth. Its impossibility makes the point unmistakable: no accumulation of people or resources can purchase release. The following refusal closes the entire imagined bargain.",
    "The refusal is abrupt, and the warning of the Fire replaces the hope of a ransom. The verse is part of a revealed account of judgment. It does not locate a physical destination on an earthly map.",
    "The brief description intensifies the warning already introduced. Rather than linger on bodily detail, the next verses identify the conduct connected with the consequence: turning away, hoarding resources, and withholding what should be shared.",
    "The warning calls attention to someone who turned away and withdrew. The next line adds a material expression of that attitude. The passage moves from the scale of the final account to recognizable choices in ordinary life.",
    "Hoarding and withholding are named together. Possessions have become something guarded against others rather than used responsibly. This prepares for the later contrast with people who acknowledge a right for the needy within their wealth.",
    "Human beings are described through a tendency to anxious reactivity. The following verses explain this as distress under difficulty and withholding under ease. The passage addresses moral habits, rather than diagnosing a clinical anxiety condition.",
    "Adversity brings fretfulness in the pattern being described. This is one side of a contrast with prosperity in the next verse. The surah will answer the unstable pattern with sustained worship and practical obligations toward others.",
    "Good fortune can produce reluctance to share instead of gratitude. The chapter’s concern is how a person responds to changing circumstances. Prosperity becomes a test of responsibility, just as hardship tests endurance.",
    "Worshippers are introduced as an exception to the preceding pattern. The verses that follow explain what such worship looks like in a whole life. Prayer, generosity, fidelity, and testimony belong within the same description.",
    "Constancy in prayer is the first feature named. The emphasis is continuity rather than a momentary display of devotion. Later, careful attention to prayer will close the description, giving the intervening social responsibilities a devotional frame.",
    "Their wealth contains an acknowledged right. Giving is therefore presented as recognition of another person’s claim, rather than merely a generous mood. The following verse identifies people whose need should not be ignored.",
    "Both those who ask and those deprived of resources are included. Need can be visible or less easily noticed. The pairing invites attentiveness beyond responding only to the loudest request or the most familiar person.",
    "Belief in the Day of Judgment grounds the conduct being described. Future accountability is connected to present practice. The verse does not stand apart from generosity; it appears within a portrait of people who act on that belief.",
    "An awareness of the Lord’s judgment keeps these worshippers serious about their conduct. The concern belongs beside their trust and practical responsibilities. It is not presented as permission to declare another person’s final destiny.",
    "The warning removes a basis for complacent self-certainty. It continues the preceding description of accountability. Within the larger passage, humility about one’s standing accompanies prayer, generosity, and care in relationships with others.",
    "Intimate conduct is also placed within the account of responsibility. The chapter describes limits rather than treating desire as self-justifying. The following verse uses social categories belonging to the historical world in which the text was received.",
    "Pickthall’s wording preserves a reference to wives and people held in historical slavery. That institution is part of the verse’s ancient social context. The reading does not replace the text with a modern paraphrase or erase that difficult history.",
    "The verse names transgression beyond the boundary just described. It completes this part of the ethical portrait before the passage turns to trusts and testimony. Responsibility extends across private conduct and public dealings.",
    "Trusts and covenants are to be kept. The wording includes obligations that other people rely upon, moving the portrait beyond private devotion. Reliability becomes a way in which belief takes a visible social form.",
    "Standing by testimony makes truthfulness a responsibility in matters affecting others. The verse values a witness who remains dependable. Within the sequence, honest speech joins generosity and fidelity as part of a coherent life.",
    "Careful attention to prayer returns the description to its opening practice. Prayer thus frames the duties of wealth, relationships, promises, and testimony. The arrangement encourages reading worship and ethical conduct together.",
    "The described people receive an honored place in Gardens. This closes the portrait of sustained responsibility with welcome rather than anxiety. The image belongs to the promised hereafter, not to an identified garden that can be visited.",
    "The address returns to opponents staring toward the messenger. The scene concerns a particular response to his recitation and warning. Their intense attention does not necessarily mean they are willing to receive its implications.",
    "Groups appear on the right and left, continuing the public scene. The spatial detail makes the audience visible without naming individual members. The next question challenges what these gatherings imagine they are entitled to receive.",
    "The question exposes an expectation of entering the Garden without the response described earlier. Social presence around the messenger is insufficient by itself. The contrast directs attention back to conduct rather than assumed privilege.",
    "The reminder of a known human origin undercuts inflated self-importance. Those who make exclusive claims share an ordinary beginning. The verse does not offer grounds for ranking people by ancestry or material standing.",
    "An oath invokes the Lord of risings and settings, introducing the statement of power that follows. Pickthall adds the planets in his English rendering. The Arabic expression is broader, and the scene need not be reduced to a particular astronomical event.",
    "The power to replace the audience with others challenges the idea that any group is indispensable. No one can outrun that power. The statement continues the rebuke of entitlement without identifying a modern population as its replacement.",
    "The messenger is told to leave them to their talk and play until the promised meeting. The instruction places the final outcome beyond argument. Time remaining is not presented as proof that the warning has become irrelevant.",
    "People emerge hurriedly from graves, compared with a rush toward a goal. The familiar motion makes the scene vivid. No cemetery, earthly route, or date is identified for this future gathering.",
    "The final verse joins downcast eyes and abasement with the promised Day. The opening question now meets its narrative answer. The chapter ends by returning from speculation about timing to the seriousness of accountability."
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "start": 1,
      "end": 7,
      "title": "A question, an ascent, and a beautiful patience",
      "summary": "A challenge about judgment meets the vast measure of a Day and the instruction to endure with patience.",
      "reflection": "How does an uncertain timetable change the patience required of you?"
    },
    {
      "start": 8,
      "end": 18,
      "title": "When familiar supports cannot ransom a soul",
      "summary": "Sky and mountains lose their stability, relationships cannot purchase escape, and hoarding is brought into the account.",
      "reflection": "Which forms of security matter most when status and possessions cannot answer for conduct?"
    },
    {
      "start": 19,
      "end": 35,
      "title": "Prayer that shapes a generous and faithful life",
      "summary": "Steady prayer frames acknowledged rights in wealth, intimate responsibility, kept promises, and reliable testimony.",
      "reflection": "How can one practice of worship strengthen a specific responsibility toward another person?"
    },
    {
      "start": 36,
      "end": 44,
      "title": "False entitlement and the promised gathering",
      "summary": "Crowds and confident expectations are challenged by shared human origins, divine power, and the final emergence from graves.",
      "reflection": "What assumption of entitlement could be replaced with a more responsible action?"
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "title": "Before 622 CE · Makkan classification",
      "year": 622,
      "body": "Al-Ma‘arij is classified as Makkan. The year marks the Hijrah boundary, verified in the historical reference, rather than a precise date for this surah’s revelation.",
      "source": "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Hejira"
    },
    {
      "title": "The opening challenge · an unnamed questioner",
      "year": null,
      "body": "Verse 1 introduces a question about judgment without naming the speaker or providing a calendar date. Later historical identifications are not treated as facts supplied by the verse.",
      "source": "https://original.sacred-texts.com/isl/pick/070.htm"
    },
    {
      "title": "Fifty thousand years · a revealed measure of the Day",
      "year": null,
      "body": "Verse 4 gives this measure, and Ma’arif al-Qur’an relates it to judgment. It is not placed on the calendar as a countdown to the Hour.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/4/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran"
    },
    {
      "title": "The gathering from graves · future and undated",
      "year": null,
      "body": "Verses 43–44 describe the promised gathering. Neither an earthly location nor a date is disclosed.",
      "source": "https://original.sacred-texts.com/isl/pick/070.htm"
    }
  ],
  "places": [
    {
      "id": "makkah",
      "name": "Makkah · the broad setting of address",
      "body": "The Makkan classification provides the setting of the mission addressed in the chapter. The questioner’s exact location and the place of the gathering around the messenger are not identified.",
      "lat": 21.4225,
      "lon": 39.8262,
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/info",
      "image": 0
    },
    {
      "id": "prayer-giving",
      "name": "A community of prayer and giving",
      "body": "The middle passage connects worship with the rights of those in need. The pictured courtyard is an illustrative setting for these practices, not an identified original mosque.",
      "source": "https://original.sacred-texts.com/isl/pick/070.htm",
      "image": 2
    },
    {
      "id": "cosmic-scene",
      "name": "Sky, mountains, and the final gathering",
      "body": "The chapter’s cosmic and resurrection scenes concern the unseen future. They are presented as thematic landscapes without geographic pins or a claim to reconstruct the hereafter.",
      "source": "https://original.sacred-texts.com/isl/pick/070.htm",
      "image": 1
    }
  ],
  "people": [
    {
      "id": "questioner",
      "title": "The questioner · unnamed in the verse",
      "body": "The opening gives a question about coming judgment. The reader keeps the person unnamed because the Quranic wording does not specify an identity.",
      "verse": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "messenger",
      "title": "Muhammad · called to a beautiful patience",
      "body": "The messenger is instructed to endure patiently and later to leave the final outcome with Allah. He is discussed through the address and is not depicted.",
      "verse": 5
    },
    {
      "id": "those-in-need",
      "title": "Those who ask and those deprived",
      "body": "Both appear as holders of an acknowledged right in others’ wealth. Their inclusion directs attention to need that is publicly expressed and need that may be less visible.",
      "verse": 25
    },
    {
      "id": "faithful-worshippers",
      "title": "Worshippers whose commitments extend into daily life",
      "body": "The portrait joins consistent prayer with giving, intimate responsibility, fulfilled trusts, and reliable testimony. The passage describes a pattern of conduct rather than a named historical group.",
      "verse": 32
    }
  ],
  "history": [
    {
      "title": "Makkan revelation without an exact date",
      "body": "The chapter introduction places Al-Ma‘arij in the Makkan mission. The reader retains that broad classification and does not make a proposed occasion into a settled calendar year.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/info"
    },
    {
      "title": "The Day’s measure in commentary",
      "body": "Ma’arif al-Qur’an discusses the fifty-thousand-year measure in connection with judgment and its experience. This is interpretive context; no modern physical calculation or dated astronomical event is inferred.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/4/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran"
    },
    {
      "title": "Wealth with an acknowledged right",
      "body": "The commentary discusses the specified right in wealth, including its relation to obligatory giving. The chapter’s own portrait pairs that right with the person who asks and the person deprived of resources.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/29/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran"
    },
    {
      "title": "Reading the historical social vocabulary",
      "body": "Verse 30 includes people held in slavery alongside wives in the historical wording about intimate relations. The original Pickthall translation is retained, and the note names that social context instead of concealing it.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-maarij/30"
    }
  ],
  "revelationNote": "Makkan. The 622 CE marker is the Hijrah period boundary, not a precise revelation date. The fifty-thousand-year measure is not used to predict the Hour. Angels, the Spirit, and divine reality are not depicted; future scenes are illustrative."
}