The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
O you enveloped in your cloak! 1 Arise and deliver thy warning! 2 Proclaim the glory of your Lord; 3 And thine inner self purify! 4 and shun uncleanness, 5 And do not through giving seek thyself to gain, 6 And be patient for the sake of your Lord (i.e. perform your duty to Allah)! 7 Then, when the Trumpet is sounded (i.e. its second blowing); 8 that will surely be a hard day, 9 Dolorous for the unbelievers. 10 Leave Me alone with he whom I created 11 And gave him vast wealth. 12 and sons standing before him, 13 And for whom I smoothed everything. 14 Then he desires that I should add more. 15 Never! For he is an enemy to Our signs! 16 Anon I shall afflict him with a fearful woe. 17 For he thought and he plotted -- 18 May he be accursed, how he planned! 19 Again accursed be he, how evilly did he decide! 20 Then he looked round; 21 Then he frowned and scowled; 22 Then he turned back and was haughty; 23 And said: This is naught else than magic from of old; 24 Nothing more than the speech of a man!" 25 Him shall I fling unto the burning. 26 And what have you understood, what hell is! 27 It lets nothing remain and leaves nothing [unburned], 28 it scorches the skin; 29 and it has nineteen angelic keepers. 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