74al-MuddaththirThe One in Attireسُورَةُ المدثر

O you in [your comfortable] attire!

Emerge [from your solitude] and warn [people of their deviancy]!

And your Sustainer glorify [Him and His greatness]!

And purify your clothing [and the appearance you put on]!

And [you are instructed to] leave all desecration behind!

And do not do favors anticipating more in return,

And for the sake of your Sustainer, be patient.

And [keep in mind that] when the trumpet blares [and the hearts quicken],

That [apparently distant] Day shall be a Day of tension —

[A Day] not easy for the God-deniers!

Leave Me alone [to deal] with the one I singularly created as a sole individual,

And for whom I have made it possible to acquire extensive wealth,

And made it possible [to procreate] children and manpower [who will potentially stand] as witnesses [against him on the Day of Judgement],

And for whom I gently paved his way [in life]:

And yet, after all that, he greedily expects Me to give [him] more and more!

Absolutely not! He, in actual fact, was stubbornly defiant of Our illustrations of divine power and godly authority —

[And so] I shall have him go through an uphill arduous grind!

He did, indeed, think [through what he was doing] and calculate [the results within his worldly priorities] —

Accordingly, it was his method of calculation that devastated him,

And then [once again], it was his method of calculation that devastated him.

Then [as the truth caught up with him] he looked [to the people around him],

And then he frowned and looked very angry,

Then he [eventually] turned his back [on Our information from heaven] and behaved arrogantly,

And said, “This [Qur’an] is nothing but a riveting maxim —

“Nothing, indeed, but the saying of a mortal being!”

[For this], I will put him through [a peculiar punishment in] Hell!

And what would you know about this peculiar punishment in Hell?

It does not tolerate an existence [of anyone] nor a termination [of anyone],

[And at that time], it comes into the view of mortal humans.

Over it are nineteen [keepers].

And We caused none but angelic powers to be the porters [of Hell]; and We have not caused their numbers to be anything but trouble [and confusion] for those who are in denial of Allah — to the end that the people who were vouchsafed earlier revelation will not be incredulous [about this Qur’an] and those who are committed to Allah will boost their commitment and [as this is accomplished] neither those who were vouchsafed earlier revelation nor the committed muslims will have any [lingering] doubt; and this will cause those with diseased hearts and the God-deniers to say, “What purpose does Allah intend by presenting [us with] such a parable?” In this manner, Allah misguides those who choose misguidance and He guides those who choose guidance. And no one knows your Sustainer’s troops except Him: and this is nothing but a conscious reminder for mortals.

No [and that is not all]! Consider the moon!

And the night when it goes away,

And the morning when it comes into sight!

Verily, that [peculiar punishment in Hell] is a mammoth of a thing —

A warning to mortal humans —

For everyone of you, whether he intends to go forward or to regress.

[On that Day] every living being will be a detainee of his [bad] deeds —

Except for those who have attained the status of eminence:

[They will be located] in gardens wherein they will inquire

About those criminals,

“What has driven you into that peculiar punishment in the fire?”

They will answer, “We were not among those who were in communion [with Allah];

“And neither were we [in the habit of] feeding those in straitened circumstances;

“And we had a go at lies and innuendo with those who would do such things [back in our worldly life];

“And we would refute the [coming of the] Day of Judgement —

“Until certainty caught up with us [after death].”

And so, the mediation of those who want to mediate [on their behalf] shall be of no value to them.

What is it with them that they put aside the reminder [that comes to them from Us],

As though they were agitated asses [donkeys]

Fleeing from a predatory flesh-eating animal?

More accurately, each one of them claims to have been more deserving of receiving open- book revelations!

By no means! They are not in fear of the [consequences in the] final life [to come].

Certainly! This is an admonition —

And whoever wills may gain a consciousness [from it].

But they [who are not in fear of the final life] will not gain that consciousness except if Allah wills it: for He is the One to be avoided [in as far as His ultimate justice is due] and He is the One [and only] who issues forgiveness.