The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Cloaked one, 1 stand up, deliver your warning, 2 And proclaim the Purity of your Lord. 3 thy robes purify 4 And banish all trepidation. 5 And show not favour, seeking wordly gain! 6 And be patient for the sake of your Lord (i.e. perform your duty to Allah)! 7 When the Trumpet is sounded, 8 that shall be a Harsh Day 9 Far from easy for those without Faith. 10 Let Me alone with him whom I created lonely. 11 and appointed for him ample wealth 12 And gave him sons present before him. 13 And spread [everything] before him, easing [his life]. 14 Yet is he greedy-that I should add (yet more);- 15 Never! For he is an enemy to Our signs! 16 I will constrain him to a hard ascent. 17 For he had thought and calculated. 18 death seized him, how was his determining! 19 Yea, Woe to him; How he plotted!- 20 Then he looked round; 21 then frowned and scowled; 22 then he retreated, and waxed proud. 23 Then he said: "This is nothing but magic from that of old; 24 Naught is this but the word of Man. 25 [Hence,] I shall cause him to endure hell-fire [in the life to come]! 26 What do you think Hell-fire is? 27 It leaves nothing, nor does it spare; 28 It shrivelleth the man. 29 Over it are nineteen [angels]. 30 We have appointed none but angels as the keepers of the Fire, and We have not made their number but as a trial for the unbelievers so that those who have been endowed with the Book will be convinced and the believers' faith will increase, and neither those who have been endowed with the Book nor the believers will fall into any doubt. As for those in whose hearts there is a sickness as well as the unbelievers, they will say: “What did Allah aim at by this strange parable?” Thus does Allah let whomsoever He pleases to go astray, and directs whomsoever He pleases to the Right Way. And none knows the hosts of your Lord but He. (And Hell has only been mentioned here) that people may take heed. 31