The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Cloaked one, 1 arise and give warning! 2 Thy Lord magnify 3 And your clothing purify 4 and flee from the statues! 5 do not bestow a favour in the expectation of receiving more in return; 6 Exercise patience to please your Lord. 7 For when the trumpet shall sound, 8 It will be a day of distress, 9 Not of ease, for disbelievers. 10 LEAVE Me alone [to deal] with him whom I have created alone, 11 And then bestowed upon him ample means, 12 and sons that stand in witness. 13 And made several preparations for him. 14 Then he desires that I should add more. 15 Nay! For lo! he hath been stubborn to Our revelations. 16 I will cover him with arduous torment. 17 He reflected, and then determined 18 death seize him, how he determined! 19 Again (self-)destroyed is he, how he planned! - 20 He looked (at others); 21 Then he frowned and he scowled; 22 then he retreated and waxed proud, 23 and says, "All this is mere spellbinding eloquence handed down [from olden times]! 24 "This is nothing but the word of a mortal!" 25 I will cast him into the fire of Hell. 26 - Ah, what will convey unto thee what that burning is! - 27 It lets nothing remain and leaves nothing [unburned], 28 making [all truth] visible to mortal man. 29 Over it are nineteen. 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