The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
O THOU [in thy solitude] enfolded! 1 stand up, deliver your warning, 2 Thy Lord magnify, 3 cleanse your clothes, 4 and defilement flee! 5 Do not bestow favours in expectation of return, 6 But, for thy Lord's (Cause), be patient and constant! 7 For when the trumpet shall sound, 8 that day will be a harsh day, 9 Far from easy for the disbelievers. 10 Leave Me alone [to deal] with him whom I have created alone, 11 And give him vast riches, 12 and sons ever present with him, 13 And made (life) smooth for him. 14 Yet he wants that I should give him more. 15 Nay! Verily, he has been stubborn and opposing Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.). 16 Soon will I visit him with a mount of calamities! 17 Behold, [when Our messages are conveyed to one who is bent on denying the truth,] he reflects and meditates [as to how to disprove them] 18 But may he be cursed how he plotted; 19 May be then be accursed, how he plotted! 20 Then he looked round; 21 and then he frowns and glares, 22 then turned back, and swelling-up with pride, 23 And said, "This is not but magic imitated [from others]. 24 This is naught else than speech of mortal man. 25 I shall surely roast him in Sakar; 26 What do you think Hell-fire is? 27 It leaveth naught; it spareth naught 28 It shrivelleth the man. 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