Texts of Islam

The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'ân,: 74. al-Mudathi...

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This is a Quranic chapter (Surah 74, Al-Mudathir, "The Clothed One") in M.M. Pickthall's English translation, part of his early 20th-century work *The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'ân* — one of the first translations by a Western convert to Islam, notable for its attempt at archaic English dignity. The surah opens with a direct divine command to the Prophet Muhammad to rise, warn, and purify himself, framing the prophetic mission as urgent and demanding patient endurance. A substantial portion condemns a specific unnamed figure — traditionally identified as a Meccan opponent — who was given wealth and comfort yet rejected divine revelation, dismissing it as mere magic or human speech; he is promised Hell as consequence. The chapter describes Hell (the "burning") as presided over by nineteen angelic wardens, noting this number will confirm faith for believers and confound skeptics. It closes with the damned explaining their fate: they neglected prayer, ignored the poor, engaged in vain disputation, and denied the Day of Judgment — a concise ethical summary of what the Quran treats as moral failure. The surah's distinctive tone oscillates between urgent personal address, vivid eschatological warning, and a final assertion that guidance itself is God's prerogative, not humanity's achievement.

The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'ân,: 74. al-Mudathi...

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