74:1  O you who have been endowed with excellent capabilities

74:2  Arise (with the Divine Message) and warn

74:3  And your Lord, do announce His supremacy

74:4  And purify your clothes and your heart

74:5  And idol-worship, (spare no pains to) exterminate it and shun all uncleanliness

74:6  And bestow no favour seeking to get more (in return)

74:7  And endure (your trials) with perseverance for the sake of your Lord

74:8  And the day the trumpet (of the Prophet's call to the people) is sounded

74:9  That will be a day full of woe and distress (for the opponents of Truth for this day will spell final defeat of disbelief)

74:10  For the disbelievers it will not be easy (to behold the complete triumph of Truth)

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

74:12  To whom I gave abundant wealth

74:13  And sons that remain present (with him)

74:14  And I provided for him all necessary equipment

74:15  Yet he covets that I should give (him) more

74:16  Certainly not, for he has been a stubborn opponent to Our Messages

74:17  Rather I will inflict on him an increasingly overwhelming torment

74:18  Lo! he pondered and planned

74:19  Ruin seize him! how (maliciously) he planned

74:20  Again ruin seize him! how (maliciously) he planned

74:21  Then he looked about (to give his calculations and planning another thought)

74:22  Then he frowned and scowled (in disdain)

74:23  Then he turned back (in scorn) and waxed proud

74:24  And said, `This (Qur'an) is nothing but an age long magic handed down (by tradition)

74:25  `This is nothing but mere words of a human being.

74:26  Soon I shall cast him into the Hell-fire

74:27  How should you realize what the Hell- fire is

74:28  It spares none. It leaves nothing (unconsumed)

74:29  It scorches the face, the skin and the body

74:30  Nineteen (wardens) are appointed over it (- the Hell-fire in consonance with the nineteen human faculties the misuse of which results in punishment for the sinners)

74:31  None but angels have We appointed as wardens of the Hell-fire. We have fixed their number in order to purify (and purge) the sins of those who disbelieve. The result of this is that the people of the Scripture will be convinced, and those who believe will increase in faith (and act with righteousness). And those who have been given the Scriptures as well as the believers may (both) attain certainty (and will not be misguided). And the people with diseased hearts and the disbelievers will say, `What does Allah mean by such an illustration?' Thus does Allah forsake him who wishes (to go astray), and guides him who wishes (to be guided). And none knows (the number) of the hosts of your Lord but He. And this (Qur'an) is nothing but a means for human beings to rise to eminence

74:32  Nay, I call the moon to witness

74:33  And also the night when it departs

74:34  And the dawn when it shines forth

74:35  Verily, it (- the Fire of Hell) in itself is one of the great calamities

74:36  A warning to mankind

74:37  Yet whosoever of you wants to go ahead (may do so), or whoever of you wants to lag behind (may do so, for warning avails only those who are really keen to be guided aright)

74:38  Every soul is bound to pay for its deeds

74:39  Different, however, is the case of the blessed ones

74:40  (They will be) in Gardens inquirin

74:41  Of the guilty ones

74:42  `What has brought you into Hell?

74:43  They will reply, `We were not of those who offered Prayers

74:44  `Nor did we feed the poor

74:45  `And we indulged in vain talk along with those who indulged therein

74:46  `And we always cried lies to the Day of Requital

74:47  `Till death overtook us.

74:48  That is why the intercession of the intercessors will be of no avail to them

74:49  What is the wrong with them, then, that they are thus turning away from the exhortation (of the Qur'an)

74:50  (They behave) as if they were frightened donkeys (making others frightful too)

74:51  Running away from a lion

74:52  The fact is that everyone of them desires that he should (individually) be given open Scripture (direct from heaven)

74:53  This can never be so. The fact is that they have no fear of the Hereafter

74:54  This should not be so. Verily, this (Qur'an) is a means to rise to eminence

74:55  Let him then, who will, remember it (to win glory and honour for himself)

74:56  But these (deniers) will not remember it unless Allah (so) will. He alone is worthy to be taken as a shield and He alone is most worthy of granting protection