74:1  O you cloaked one (who has preferred solitude)

74:2  Arise and warn

74:3  And declare your Lord’s (indescribable and incomparable) greatness

74:4  And keep your clothing clean

74:5  Keep away from all pollution

74:6  Do not consider your fulfillment of these orders as a kindness (to God and people)

74:7  And for the sake of your Lord be patient (in fulfilling your duty toward God and people)

74:8  Then, when the Horn is sounded

74:9  That Day will be a day of hardship

74:10  For the unbelievers, not easy

74:11  Leave Me (to deal) with him whom I created alone

74:12  And I enabled for him abundant wealth

74:13  And children around him as means of power

74:14  And I have granted him all means and status for a comfortable life

74:15  And yet, he desires that I should give more

74:16  By no means! Surely he has been in obstinate opposition to Our Revelations

74:17  I will oblige him to a strenuous climb

74:18  He pondered and he calculated (how he could disprove the Qur’an in people’s sight)

74:19  Be away from God’s mercy, how he calculated

74:20  Yea, may God preserve him from the evil eye! how he calculated

74:21  Then he looked around (in the manner of one who will decide on a matter about which he is asked)

74:22  Then he frowned and scowled

74:23  Then he turned his back and (despite inwardly acknowledging the Qur’an’s Divine origin), grew in arrogance

74:24  And he said: "This is nothing but sorcery (of a sort transmitted from sorcerers) from old times

74:25  "This is nothing but the word of a mortal."

74:26  I will make him enter a pit of Hell

74:27  What enables you to perceive what that pit is

74:28  It leaves none (but entirely burns everyone of those thrown into it), nor does it spare anyone (so that they might die and escape)

74:29  It scorches up the skin

74:30  Over it there are nineteen (keepers)

74:31  We have appointed none but angels as keepers of the Fire, and We have not caused their number to be anything but a trial for those who disbelieve, that those who were granted the Book before may become certain (that Muhammad, who explains everything revealed to him without any hesitation in the face of all antagonism and derision, is God’s Messenger), and those who believe may grow more firm in faith; and that both they who were granted the Book before and the believers may feel no doubt at all; and those in whose hearts there is a sickness and the unbelievers may say: "What does God mean by this description?" Thus God leads astray whom He wills, and guides whom He wills. None knows your Lord’s hosts except He. All this is but a reminder to the mortals (so that they may take heed and act accordingly)

74:32  No indeed (the Qur’an is not as the unbelievers claim)! By the moon

74:33  And by the night when it retreats

74:34  And by the morning when it shines forth

74:35  Surely it (the Qur’an) is of the greatest (of God’s signs)

74:36  A warning for humankind

74:37  For everyone of you, whether he goes forward (by choosing faith and good deeds) or hangs back (because his choice of unbelief and sin pulls him away from the Straight Path)

74:38  Every person is held in pledge for what he earns (through his deeds)

74:39  Except the people of the Right (the people of happiness and prosperity who receive their Records in their right hands. God will forgive them and reward them with much more than they earned)

74:40  Dwelling in Gardens (whose beauty cannot be perceived while in the world), they will put questions to one anothe

74:41  About the disbelieving criminals, (and convey the answers they give)

74:42  "What has brought you into the pit?"

74:43  They will reply: "We were not of those who prayed (who turn to God in sincere worship)

74:44  "Nor did we use to feed the destitute

74:45  "We used to plunge (in falsehood and sin) together with those who plunged (in it)

74:46  "And we used to deny the (coming of the) Day of Judgment

74:47  "Until what is certain to come did come upon us."

74:48  And so, of no benefit to them will be the intercession of any who are entitled to intercede, (even if they are allowed to intercede)

74:49  What, then, is the matter with them that they turn away in aversion from the Reminder (the Qur’an)

74:50  As though they were frightened wild donkey

74:51  Fleeing from a lion

74:52  Indeed, every one of them desires that he should be given a Book (particular to him) opened out

74:53  By no means! Indeed, they do not (believe in and, therefore, do not) fear the Hereafter

74:54  By no means! This (Qur’an) is a reminder and admonition (sufficient for all)

74:55  So, whoever wills receives admonition and takes heed

74:56  Yet they will not receive admonition and take heed unless God wills; He is the Lord of righteousness and piety, and the Lord of forgiveness