The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
O thou enveloped! 1 Arise and deliver thy warning! 2 And your Lord (Allah) magnify! 3 thy robes purify 4 and shun uncleanness, 5 And do not favour others in order to receive more. 6 And for the sake of your Lord, be patient. 7 And [warn all men that] when the trumpet-call [of resurrection] is sounded, 8 Truly, that Day will be a Hard Day. 9 For the infidels, not easy. 10 Leave Me with him whom I alone have created, 11 and designated for him ample wealth, 12 And sons always present by his side, 13 I made things smooth and easy for him, 14 and yet, he greedily desires that I give him even more! 15 Never! For he is an enemy to Our signs! 16 Soon will I visit him with a mount of calamities! 17 He planned and plotted. 18 death seize him, how he determined! 19 And again perish he! How maliciously he devised! 20 He looked (at others); 21 Then he frowned and scowled; 22 Then turned he away in pride 23 and said: “This (Qur'an) is merely a sorcery of yore; 24 It is nothing but the word of a mortal' 25 [Hence,] I shall cause him to endure hell-fire [in the life to come]! 26 - Ah, what will convey unto thee what that burning is! - 27 It spares nothing; it leaves nothing intact; 28 it scorches the skin; 29 over it are nineteen. 30 For We have caused none but angelic powers to lord over the fire [of hell]; and We have not caused their number to be aught but a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth - to the end that they who have been granted revelation aforetime might be convinced [of the truth of this divine writ]; and that they who have attained to faith [in it] might grow yet more firm in their faith; and that [both] they who have been granted the earlier revelation and they who believe [in this one] might be freed of all doubt; and that they in whose hearts is disease and they who deny the truth outright might ask, "What does [your] God mean by this parable?" In this way God lets go astray him that wills [to go astray,] and guides aright him that wills [to be guided]. And none can comprehend thy Sustainers forces save Him alone: and all this is but a reminder to mortal man. 31