The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
O thou wrapped up (in the mantle)! 1 Arise and warn! 2 And your Lord do magnify, 3 purify your garments; 4 And all defilement shun! 5 and bestow not favour in order to seek from others a greater return, 6 and persevere for your Lord's sake. 7 For when the trumpet shall sound, 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 gave him abundant wealth 12 and sons ever present with him, 13 whose life I have made run smoothly 14 yet he is eager that I increase him. 15 By no means! He has been stubbornly hostile to Our revelation: 16 [and so] I shall constrain him to endure a painful uphill climb! 17 For he thought and he plotted;- 18 May he be accursed, how he planned! 19 Again, death seize him, how he determined! 20 Then he thought; 21 Then frowned he and scowled. 22 Then he turned back and was arrogant 23 Then he said: naught is this but magic from of old; 24 Naught is this but the word of Man. 25 I will cast him into hell. 26 What could make you conceive what hell-fire is? 27 It leaves naught nor does it spare aught. 28 Burning the skins! 29 Over it are nineteen [powers]. 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