The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
O THOU [in thy solitude] enfolded! 1 Arise and deliver thy warning! 2 Glorify your Lord, 3 And your clothing purify 4 and shun uncleanness, 5 And do not through giving seek thyself to gain, 6 But, for thy Lord's (Cause), be patient and constant! 7 When the Horn is blown, 8 Truly, that Day will be a Hard Day. 9 Not easy upon the disbelievers. 10 Leave to Me the one, whom I have created all by Myself, 11 and whom I have granted abundant wealth 12 and sons to be by his side, 13 and made all things smooth for him; 14 Yet he desires that I should give more. 15 By no means! Verily he hath been unto Our signs a foe. 16 I will make a distressing punishment overtake him. 17 Surely he reflected and guessed, 18 (Self-)destroyed is he, how he planned! 19 Again, death seize him, how he determined! 20 Then he looked, 21 Then he frowned and scowled, 22 Then he turned back and was arrogant 23 and says, "All this is mere spellbinding eloquence handed down [from olden times]! 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 And what have you understood, what hell is! 27 It leaves and spares no one and nothing. 28 It shrivelleth the man. 29 Above it are nineteen guards. 30 And We have appointed none but the angels to be wardens of the Fire. And their number we have made only a trial for those who disbelieve, so that those who are vouchsafed the Book may be convinced, and that those who believe may increase in faith, and that those who are vouchsafed the Book and the believers may not doubt, and that those in whose hearts is a disease and the infidels may say: what meaneth Allah by this description! In this wise Allah sendeth astray whomsoever He will, and guideth whomsoever He will. And none knoweth the hosts of thy Lord but He. And it is naught but an admonition unto man. 31