The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
O thou shrouded in thy mantle, 1 Arise and deliver thy warning! 2 And your Lord glorify 3 and purify your robes, 4 And banish all trepidation. 5 Do not give, thinking to gain greater 6 and persevere for your Lord's sake. 7 When the Trumpet shall be sounded, 8 That will be- that Day - a Day of Distress,- 9 for the unbelievers not easy. 10 Leave him to Me whom I created alone, 11 And give him vast riches, 12 And sons always present by his side, 13 And spread [everything] before him, easing [his life]. 14 yet he is eager that I increase him. 15 By no means! surely he offers opposition to Our communications. 16 Anon I shall afflict him with a fearful woe. 17 Verily he considered, and devised. 18 And woe to him! How he plotted!- 19 yea, he destroys himself, the way he meditates! 20 Then he beheld, 21 And frowned and puckered his brow, 22 Then he turned back and was proud; 23 and said: 'This is no more than traced sorcery; 24 This is naught but the word of a mortal. 25 I will cast him into the fire of Hell. 26 And what could make thee conceive what hell-fire is? 27 It lets nothing remain and leaves nothing [unburned], 28 Darkening and changing the colour of man! 29 Above it are nineteen. 30 We have appointed only angels to be wardens of the Fire. We have specified their number only as a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth, so that those who were given the Book might gain in certainty, and those who believe might increase in faith -- and so that neither those who have been given the Scripture nor the believers might have any doubts, and that those sick at heart and those who deny the truth might ask, "What does God mean by this parable?" In this way, God lets go astray whom He wills, and guides whom He wills. And none knows the forces of your Lord but He. This is but a Reminder for man. 31