The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
O YOU ENFOLDED in your mantle (of reform), 1 Arise and warn! 2 Thy Lord magnify 3 And your garments purify! 4 stay away from sins 5 And bestow not favour that thou mayest receive more. 6 But for your Lord be patient. 7 When the Trumpet is sounded, 8 Surely that day will be a day of anguish, 9 for the unbelievers not easy. 10 Leave to Me the one, whom I have created all by Myself, 11 And gave him abundant wealth 12 And sons always present by his side, 13 And made life smooth and comfortable for him! 14 Yet he desireth that I should give more. 15 Nay! Verily, he has been stubborn and opposing Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.). 16 I shall soon constrain him to a hard ascent. 17 Indeed, he thought and deliberated. 18 death seize him, how he determined! 19 May be then be accursed, how he plotted! 20 Then looked he, 21 Then he frowned and he looked in a bad tempered way; 22 then he retreated and waxed proud, 23 Then he said: "This is nothing but magic from that of old; 24 "This is nothing but the word of a mortal!" 25 Soon I will cast him into hell. 26 What do you think Hell-fire is? 27 It leaves naught nor does it spare aught. 28 it scorches the skin; 29 there are nineteen [angels] in charge of it -- 30 We have appointed only angels to be wardens of the Fire. We have specified their number only as a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth, so that those who were given the Book might gain in certainty, and those who believe might increase in faith -- and so that neither those who have been given the Scripture nor the believers might have any doubts, and that those sick at heart and those who deny the truth might ask, "What does God mean by this parable?" In this way, God lets go astray whom He wills, and guides whom He wills. And none knows the forces of your Lord but He. This is but a Reminder for man. 31