Surah 74. Al-Muddaththir

But no! 'For' he has been truly stubborn with Our revelations.

  - Mustafa Khattab

By no means! For to Our Signs he has been refractory!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

I will make his fate unbearable,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Soon will I visit him with a mount of calamities! ⁵⁷⁸⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"A mount of calamities" or disasters: may be understood as a phrase for cumulative disasters.

for he contemplated and determined 'a degrading label for the Quran'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

For he thought and he plotted

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

May he be condemned! How evil was what he determined!

  - Mustafa Khattab

And woe to him! how he plotted! ⁵⁷⁸⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. li. 10: "Woe to the falsehood-mongers!"

May he be condemned even more! How evil was what he determined!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Yea woe to him! how he plotted!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Then he re-contemplated 'in frustration',

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then he looked round;

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

then frowned and scowled,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then he frowned and he scowled;

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

then turned his back 'on the truth' and acted arrogantly,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then he turned back and was haughty;

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

saying, 'This 'Quran' is nothing but magic from the ancients.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then said he: "This is nothing but magic derived from of old;" ⁵⁷⁹⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Commentators understand the reference to be to Walid ibn Mugaira, who was a wealthy Sybarite, Pagan to the core, and an inveterate enemy to the holy Prophet. He and Abu Jahl did all they could, from the beginning of the preaching of Islam, to abuse and persecute the Preacher, to run down his doctrine, and to injure those who believed in it. But the meaning for us is much wider. There are Walids in all ages. They cannot understand divine inspiration, and seek to explain its wonderful influence over the lives of men by some such unmeaning formula as "magic". The eternal Hope is to them mere human delusion!

This is no more than the word of a man.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"This is nothing but the word of a mortal!"

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Soon I will burn him in Hell!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Soon will cast him into Hell-Fire! ⁵⁷⁹¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Sinner's perversity can only end in the Fire of Punishment. It enters his very being. See next note.

And what will make you realize what Hell is?

  - Mustafa Khattab

And what will explain to thee what Hell-Fire is?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

It does not let anyone live or die,¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Another possible translation: “It spares none and leaves nothing.”

Naught doth it permit to endure and naught doth it leave alone! ⁵⁷⁹²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

He is in a state in which he neither lives nor dies (lxxxvii. 13). Looked at in another way, the things that in a good man are meant to last and grow, are for the sinner destroyed, and no part of his nature is left untouched. The brightness of his very manhood is darkened and extinguished by sin.

scorching the skin.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Darkening and changing the color of man!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

It is overseen by nineteen 'keepers'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Over it are Nineteen. ⁵⁷⁹³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The figure nineteen refers to angels appointed to guard Hell. See verse 31 below and the corresponding note.

For We have caused none but angelic powers to lord over the fire [of hell];¹⁶ and We have not caused their number to be aught but a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth¹⁷ - to the end that they who have been granted revelation aforetime might be convinced [of the truth of this divine writ];¹⁸ 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 disease¹⁹ and they who deny the truth outright might ask, "What does [your] God mean by this parable?"²⁰ In this way God lets go astray him that wills [to go astray],and guides aright him that wills [to be guided].²¹ And none can comprehend thy Sustainer's forces save Him alone: and all this²² is but a reminder to mortal man.

  - Mohammad Asad

Since it is by virtue of his powers of conscious perception and conceptual thinking that man can arrive at a discriminating cognition of good and evil and, thus, rise to great spiritual heights, these powers are described here as "angelic" (lit., "angels" - this being the earliest occurrence of the term malak in the history of Qur'anic revelation). On the other hand, since a neglect or a deliberately wrong use of these angelic powers is at the root of all sinning on the part of man and, therefore, of his suffering in the hereafter, they are spoken of as "the lords (ashab) of the fire [of hell]", which complements the expression "over it" in the preceding verse.

This is apparently an allusion to the allegorical character of this passage, which "those who are bent on denying the truth" are unwilling to recognize as such and, hence, fail to grasp its real purport. By speculating on the reasons which allegedly induced Muhammad - whom they regard as the "author" of the Qur'an - to lay stress on one particular number, they tend to take the allegory in a literal sense, thus missing its point entirely.

Namely, by being enabled, through an understanding of the above allegory, to appreciate the rational approach of the Qur'an to all questions of faith. The reference to "those who have been granted revelation aforetime" is the earliest statement outlining the principle of continuity in mankind's religious experience.

I.e., in this instance, the half-hearted ones who, despite their ability to discern between right and wrong, incline towards unbelief.

Cf. the identical phrase in 2:26 , together with the corresponding note [18]. My interpolation, in both these passages, of the word "your" between brackets is necessitated by the fact that it is the unbelievers who ask this question.

Or: "God lets go astray whomever He wills, and guides aright whomever He wills" (see surah {14}, note [4]). The stress on the allegorical nature of the above passage, spoken of as a "parable" (mathal), has here the same purpose as in 2:26 - namely, to prevent the followers of the Qur'an from attaching a literal meaning to its eschatological descriptions - a purpose that is unmistakably expressed in the concluding sentence of this passage: "All this is but a reminder to mortal man". (See also next note.)

Lit., "it" or "these" - depending on whether the personal pronoun hiya is taken to denote a singular - in which case it would refer to the feminine noun saqar, "hell-fire" (Tabari, Zamakhshari, Baghawi, Ibn Kathir) - or a plural, referring to what Razi pinpoints as "those [Qur'anic] verses dealing with these allegories (hadhihi 'l-mutashabihat)": hence my compromise rendering "all this".

We have appointed none but angels as wardens of the fire; and We have made their number a trial for the unbelievers, so that the People of the Book may be convinced and the faith of the true believers may be increased, and that no doubts will be left for the People of the Book and the believers, and that those in whose hearts there is a disease and the disbelievers may say: "What could Allah mean by this parable?" Thus, Allah leaves to stray whom He wills and guides whom He pleases. No one knows the forces of your Rabb except Himself, and this (Qur'an) is nothing but a reminder to mankind.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We have appointed only 'stern' angels as wardens of the Fire. And We have made their number only as a test for the disbelievers,¹ so that the People of the Book will be certain, and the believers will increase in faith, and neither the People of the Book nor the believers will have any doubts, and so that those 'hypocrites' with sickness in their hearts and the disbelievers will argue, 'What does Allah mean by such a number?' In this way Allah leaves whoever He wills to stray and guides whoever He wills. And none knows the forces of your Lord except He. And this 'description of Hell' is only a reminder to humanity.

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Some pagans made fun of the Prophet (ﷺ) when they were told that the keepers of Hell are nineteen angels. One of them said mockingly to other pagans, “You take care of two angels and I will vanquish the rest all by myself.”

We have appointed only angels to be wardens of the fire, and their number have We made to be a stumbling block for those who disbelieve; that those to whom the scripture hath been given may have certainty, and that believers may increase in faith; and that those to whom the Scripture hath been given and believers may not doubt; and that those in whose hearts there is disease, and disbelievers, may say: What meaneth Allah by this similitude? Thus Allah sendeth astray whom He will, and whom He will He guideth. None knoweth the hosts of thy Lord save Him. This is naught else than a Reminder unto mortals.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And We have set none but angels as guardians of the Fire; and We have fixed their number only as a trial for Unbelievers in order that the people of the Book may arrive at certainty and the Believers may increase in Faith and that no doubts may be left for the People of the Book and the Believers and that those in whose hearts is a disease and the Unbelievers may say "What symbol doth Allah intend by this?" Thus doth Allah leave to stray whom He pleaseth and guide whom He pleaseth; and none can know the forces of the Lord except He and this is no other than a warning to mankind. ^{5794 5795 5796 5797}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. lxvi. 6, and n. 5540. There was a great volume of angelology in the religious literature of the People of the Book (i.e., the Jews and Christians) to whom (among others) an appeal is made in this verse. The Essenes, a Jewish brotherhood with highly spiritual ideas; to which perhaps the prophet Jesus himself belonged, had an extensive literature of angelology. In the Midrash also, which was a Jewish school of exegesis and mystical interpretation, there was much said about angels. The Eastern Christian sects contemporary with the birth of Islam had borrowed and developed many of these ideas, and their mystics owed much to the Gnostics and the Persian apocalyptic systems. In the New Testament the relation of the angels with Fire is referred to more than once. In Rev. ix. 11 we have "the angel of the bottomless pit, whose naine in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon". In Rev. xiv. 18 there is an "angel which had power over fire", and in Rev. xvi. 8 an angel has "power ... given unto him to scorch men with fire". In the Old Testament (Daniel vii. 9-10) the essence of all angels is fire: thousand thousands of them issued as a fiery stream from before the Ancient of Days, whose "throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire".

The significance of numbers is a favourite theme with some writers, but I lay no stress on it. In Christian theology the number of the Beast, 666, in Rev. xiii. 18 has given rise to much controversy, and may refer only to the numerical value of the letters in the name of the Roman Emperor Nero. In our own literature I think that we ought to avoid too much insistence on speculative conjectures.

There are four classes of people mentioned here. (1) The Muslims will have their faith increased, because they believe that all revelation is from Allah Most Merciful, and all His forces will work in their favour. (2) The People of the Book, those who had received previous revelations of an analogous character, the Jews and Christians, had numerous sects disputing with each other on minute points of doctrine; but they will now, if they believe, find rest from controversies in a broad understanding of scripture. (3) Those in whose hearts is a disease (see ii. 8-10, notes 33-34), the insincere ones, the hypocrites, will only be mystified, because they believe nothing and have rejected the grace and mercy of Allah. (4) The Unbelievers have frankly done the same and must suffer similar consequences.

It is a necessary consequence of moral responsibility and freedom of choice in man, that he should be left free to stray if he chooses to do so, in spite of all the warning and the instruction he receives. Allah's channels of warning and instruction-his spiritual forces-are infinite, as are His powers. No man can know them. But this warning or reminder is addressed to all mankind. All things are referred to Allah. But we must not attribute evil to Him. In iv. 79 we are expressly told that the good comes from Allah, and the evil from ourselves.

NAY, but consider the moon!²³

  - Mohammad Asad

This is the earliest Qur'anic instance of the adjurative particle wa used in the sense of a solemn, oathlike assertion - a calling to witness, as it were - meant (as in the expression "by God!") to give weight to a subsequently stated truth or evidence of the truth: hence, I am rendering it here and elsewhere as "consider". In the present case, the truth thus to be stressed is the implied statement that just as the changing phases of the moon and the alternation of night and day are the outcome of God-given, natural laws, so, too, a sinner's suffering in the hereafter is but a natural outcome of his deliberate wrongdoing in this world. (See also note [7] on 2:7 .)

Nay! By the moon,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But no! By the moon,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nay, by the Moon

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay verily: by the Moon ⁵⁷⁹⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

An oath in human speech calls in evidence something sacred in the heart of man. In Allah's Message, also, when delivered in human language, solemn emphasis is indicated by an appeal to something striking among the Signs of Allah, which will go straight to the human heart which is addressed. In each case the symbol of the appeal has reference to the particular point enforced in the argument. Here we are asked to contemplate three wonderful phenomena, and they lead up to the conclusion in verse 38. (1) The moon, next after the sun, is the most striking luminary to our sight. Its reflected light has for us even a greater mystery than the direct light of the sun, which looks to us like pure fire. The moon was worshipped as a deity in times of darkness. But in reality, though she rules the night, her rays are only reflections, and are wanting in warmth and vitality. So every soul which looks up to a mere creature of Allah for a sort of vicarious salvation is in spiritual darkness or error; for the true source of spiritual light and life is Allah, and Allah alone. For (2) the Night and (3) the Dawn, see the following note.

Consider the night when it departs,

  - Mohammad Asad

by the departing night

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

and the night as it retreats,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the night when it withdraweth

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And by the Night as it retreateth ⁵⁷⁹⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

(2) The Night when it is illuminated by the Moon is light in a sense, but it is really dark and must give place to (3) the Dawn when it comes, as the harbinger of the Sun. So in spiritual matters, when every soul realises its own responsibility, it will look less and less to reflected lights, and through the beauty of a dawn-like awakening, will be prepared more and more for the splendour of the light of Allah Himself, the goal of the Heaven of our dreams.

and the morn when it dawns!

  - Mohammad Asad

and by the coming of dawn,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

and the day as it breaks!

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the dawn when it shineth forth,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And by the Dawn as it shineth forth

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Verily, that [hell-fire] is indeed one of the great [forewarnings] -

  - Mohammad Asad

surely this hellfire is one of mighty scourge,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Surely Hell is one of the mightiest catastrophes-

  - Mustafa Khattab

Lo! this is one of the greatest (portents)

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

This is but one of the mighty (Portents) ⁵⁸⁰⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"This is but one," etc. There are numerous Signs of Allah, of which Judgment is one, and one of the mightiest portents. Or the reference may be to the waning of the Moon, the decline of the night, and the glorious sunrise, as tokens or symbols of the world renewed when the present transitory world passes away. According to some commentators "This" here refers to Hell.