The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
O THOU [in thy solitude] enfolded! 1 Arise, and warn. 2 Thy Lord magnify, 3 Thy raiment purify, 4 And pollution shun. 5 And bestow not favors that you may receive again with increase, 6 And persevere in the way of your Lord. 7 And when the trumpet is blown, 8 it will be a hard day 9 not of ease, for all who [now] deny the truth! 10 Leave him to Me whom I created alone, 11 And for whom I appointed wealth extended. 12 and sons standing before him, 13 And made (life) smooth for him. 14 Then he desires that I should add more. 15 No! Indeed, he has been toward Our verses obstinate. 16 We shall make him suffer the torment of hell without relief. 17 Verily, he thought and plotted; 18 But may he be cursed how he plotted; 19 Again, may he be cursed how he plotted; 20 Then he thought; 21 Then he frowned and scowled, 22 then turned back, and swelling-up with pride, 23 And said: This is naught else than magic from of old; 24 "This is nothing but the word of a mortal!" 25 Him shall I fling unto the burning. 26 And what do you know what Hell is? 27 It neither spares, nor releases, 28 Burning the skins! 29 Over it are nineteen. 30 And We have set none but angels as guardians of the Fire, and We have fixed their number (19) only as a trial for the disbelievers, in order that the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) may arrive at a certainty [that this Quran is the truth as it agrees with their Books i.e. their number (19) is written in the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)] and the believers may increase in Faith (as this Quran is the truth) and that no doubts may be left for the people of the Scripture and the believers, and that those in whose hearts is a disease (of hypocrisy) and the disbelievers may say: "What Allah intends by this (curious) example?" Thus Allah leads astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And none can know the hosts of your Lord but He. And this (Hell) is nothing else than a (warning) reminder to mankind. 31