The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Cloaked one, 1 arise and give warning! 2 and exalt your Lord, 3 and purify your robes, 4 And all abomination shun! 5 Do not bestow favours in expectation of return, 6 And be patient for the sake of your Lord (i.e. perform your duty to Allah)! 7 And when the trumpet is blown, 8 It will be a day of distress, 9 Far from easy for the disbelievers. 10 Leave him to Me whom I created alone, 11 And to whom I granted extensive wealth 12 And sons abiding in his presence 13 And for whom I smoothed everything. 14 Yet is he greedy-that I should add (yet more);- 15 Never! For he is an enemy to Our signs! 16 I will constrain him to a hard ascent. 17 For he thought and he plotted -- 18 Perish he! How maliciously he devised! 19 Again, ruin seize him, how did he hatch a scheme? 20 Then he considered [again]; 21 Then he frowned and he scowled; 22 Then he turned away, and was haughty. 23 Then he said: naught is this but magic from of old; 24 Nothing more than the speech of a man!" 25 I will cast him into the fire of Hell. 26 And what will make you know exactly what Hell-fire is? 27 Naught doth it permit to endure, and naught doth it leave alone!- 28 it scorches (even) the skin. 29 Over it are nineteen. 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