The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
O thou shrouded in thy mantle, 1 Arise and warn, 2 and magnify the glory of your Lord, 3 And your garments do purify, 4 And pollution shun. 5 Nor expect, in giving, any increase (for thyself)! 6 And for the good-will of thy Lord be thou patient. 7 And [warn all men that] when the trumpet-call [of resurrection] is sounded, 8 It will be a day of distress, 9 For the infidels, not easy. 10 Leave Me alone with he whom I created 11 and appointed for him ample wealth 12 and sons that stand in witness. 13 And for whom I smoothed everything. 14 then he is eager that I should do more. 15 By no means! For to Our Signs he has been refractory! 16 and I shall constrain him to a hard ascent. 17 He planned and plotted. 18 May he be condemned! 19 And once more let him be cursed, how he plotted! 20 He looked (at others); 21 Then he frowned and scowled, 22 Then he turned back and was arrogant 23 He said, 'This is naught but a trumped-up sorcery; 24 "This is nothing but the word of a mortal!" 25 Him shall I fling unto the burning. 26 and what will teach thee what is Sakar? 27 It spares not (any sinner), nor does it leave (anything unburnt)! 28 and it burns the flesh. 29 Over it are nineteen (angels guarding). 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