Al-Muddaththir#Summary

{{Quran}}

:1-7 Muhammad commanded to rise and preach Islam

:8-10 The Judgment Day shall be a sad day for the unbelievers

:11-26 God exhorts Muhammad to leave his enemy in his hands

:27-29 The pains of hell described

:30-34 Nineteen angels set as a guard over hell, and why nineteen are mentioned

:35-40 Oath to attest the horrible calamities of hell-fire

:41-49 The wicked shall in hell confess their sins to the righteous

:50-55 Infidels shall receive no other warning than that of the Quran {{cite book |last1=Wherry |first1=Elwood Morris |author1-link=Elwood Morris Wherry |title=A Complete Index to Sale's Text, Preliminary Discourse, and Notes |date=1896 |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co |location=London}} {{PD-notice}}

Many well-known authors' chronologies, including that of Ibn Kathir,[http://allahsquran.com/learn/#s74d7q1t1p2 AQ] place Surat al-Muddaththir as the second surah revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, citing the hadith:

Jabir ibn Abd Allah told, I heard the Messenger of Allah – and he was narrating about the pause in Revelation – so he said in his narration: "I was walking, when I heard a voice from the heavens. So I raised my head, and there was an angel, the one that had come to me at Hira, sitting upon a chair between the heavens and the earth. I fled from him out of fear, and I returned and said: "Wrap me up! Wrap me up!" So they covered me. Then Allah, Most High revealed: "O you who are wrapped up! Arise and warn." Up to His saying: "And keep away from the Rujz!" before the Salat was made obligatory.

Surat al-Muddaththir is structured thematically and chronologically. Containing 56 total verses, this surah was most likely revealed on at least two occasions and compiled retroactively. Verses 1-30 and 32-56 are composed of short, poetic lines which maintain rhyme structure and the Arabic rhetorical device of parallel construction. This is consistent with the verses of the early Meccan period. Verse 31 is unique in its prose-like syntax and length; it is easily the longest verse of this surah and is a glaring break with the rhyme structure that precedes and follows it. This type of verse is most common in the later Medinan revelations.{{cn|date=March 2019}}

There are several distinct thematic sections of this surah.{{cite web|last=Qutb |first=Sayyid |title=In the Shade of the Qur'an |url=https://archive.org/details/InTheShadeOfTheQuranSayyidQutb |access-date=27 November 2012 }} The first is an injunction for self-preparedness. If verse 1 refers to Muhammed (al-Muddaththir, or cloaked one): You, wrapped in your cloak, then the second verse serves to alert Muhammad to a changing environment from which he is charged with saving mankind: Arise, and give warning (74:2). Verses 3-7 are injunctions, then, for him (or whoever follows the righteous path of God) to maintain cleanliness, monotheism, humility, and patience in his own life. These are all preparations for the revelation of the rest of the message.

Al-Muddathir (Arabic: المدثر) is typically translated as “The Cloaked One” or “The One Covered in a Garment”. Like Al-Muzzammil, it refers to the Prophet Muhammad in a state of being wrapped or cloaked, this time during the early stages of his prophetic mission. While the literal meaning describes a physical state of covering, the cloak is often understood symbolically as a moment of inward reflection or spiritual preparation before engaging publicly with revelation. Some interpreters draw a connection to the concept of libās al-taqwā (“the garment of God-consciousness”, Qur’an 7:26),{{Cite web |title=Surah Al-A'raf - 26 |url=https://quran.com/al-araf/26?translations=131,20,22,19,95,84,203,57 |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=Quran.com |language=en}} viewing the Prophet’s cloak as representing his inward readiness, purity, piety, and moral responsibility. In this light, Al-Muddathir can be seen as a call to shed hesitation and rise, spiritually clothed in righteousness, to begin the task of divine warning and guidance.

The next thematic section of Surat al-Muddaththir is a warning for the unbelievers. Verses 8-30 describe the rejection of God's word and the excruciating consequences that result. For he that has not been grateful for the bounty of God's blessing and demands more, disregarding the signs and revelations of God, will be cast into the Saqar, which here refers to the scorching fire of Hell. This image of an unbeliever emphasizes the individuality of the responsibility of obeying God's message: the onus falls upon the individual man to save himself from Hell. Verse 30 refers to nineteen angels who guard the pit of hell; this curious detail is expounded upon in the following verse, which is believed to be a Medinan addition. Some scholars, such as Sayyid Qutb, have stated that verse 31 serves as an explanation of verse 30 that was added after early Muslims and unbelievers alike questioned the specificity of the nineteen angels:

"We have appointed none other than angels to guard the fire, and We have made their number a test for the unbelievers. Thus those who have been granted revelations in the past may be convinced and the believers may grow more firm in their faith; and so those who have been granted revelations and the believers will entertain no doubt; but the sick at heart and the unbelievers will ask, "What could God mean by this image?" Thus God lets go astray whomever He wills, and guides whomever He wills. No one knows your Lord's forces except Him. This is all but a reminder for mankind." (74:31)

Thus, verse 31 explains the mystery of the nineteen angels by portraying the number as a marker of faith. True believers will not question it, as it is the word of God, and those who God has "led astray" will be troubled by doubts. It is possibly an allusion to the Metonic cycle used by the Hebrew calendar.

The next section of Surat al-Muddaththir uses the tangible, accessible physical world as proof that the devastation which awaits the unbelievers will be equally real (74:32-36). It then transitions back to the theme of individual responsibility. Verses 37-47 describe the trial of the soul in Saqar, and the decisions of the individuals who found themselves there. There will be no intercession for them; once they rejected God's word, their eternal souls were doomed (74:48).

Finally, the surah returns to the realm of the living to give its final injunction. Verses 49-56 emphasize the vital need for mankind to fear and glorify God. Having given the believers an image of what happens to those who do not heed the message, the surah ends with a reminder that ultimately, God controls the destiny of all mankind and that nobody will remember what God does not let him. This ultimate authority of God is the final image of Surat al-Muddaththir.{{cn|date=March 2019}}

{{See also|Asad|Animals in Islam|Haydar}}

Verses 50 and 51 talk about ḥumur ({{langx|ar|حُمُر}}, 'asses' or 'donkeys') fleeing from a qaswarah ({{langx|ar|قَسْوَرَة}}, 'lion', 'beast of prey' or 'hunter').{{cite quran|74|41|e=51|s=ns}} The Asiatic lion and Syrian wild ass{{cite iucn |author=Moehlman, P.D. |author2=Feh, C. |date=2015 |title=Equus hemionus ssp. hemippus |volume=2015 |page=e.T7962A3144566 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T7962A3144566.en |access-date=11 November 2021}} used to inhabit the Arabian Peninsula.{{cite book |author=Smith, C.H. |year=1842 |chapter=The lion Felis Leo − Auctorum |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/naturalistslibra16jardrich#page/n85/mode/2up |page=Plate X, 85 |title=The Naturalist's Library. Vol. 15 Mammalia |editor1-last=Jardine |editor1-first=W. |location=London |publisher=Chatto and Windus}}{{cite book |title=Wild beasts; a study of the characters and habits of the elephant, lion, leopard, panther, jaguar, tiger, puma, wolf, and grizzly bear |author=John Hampden Porter |chapter=The Lion |pages=76–135 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/wildbeastsstud00port#page/76/mode/2up |year=1894 |publisher=New York, C. Scribner's sons |access-date=2014-01-19}}{{cite journal |author=Kinnear, N. B. |year=1920 |title=The past and present distribution of the lion in south eastern Asia |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=27 |pages=34–39 |url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofbombayn27192022bomb#page/32/mode/2up |access-date=2017-02-01}}{{cite book |title=The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge |volume=14 |publisher=Charles Knight and Co. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TX7BmPgLuw8C&q=Arabian+Lion+mane&pg=PA32 |date=1846-01-09 |access-date=2014-08-28}}{{cite book |title=The English Cyclopaedia |editor=Charles Knight |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GWslAAAAMAAJ&q=asiatic+lion+persian+lion&pg=RA3-PA766 |year=1867 |access-date=2014-08-28}}{{Cite book |last1=Heptner |first1=V. G. |last2=Sludskii |first2=A. A. |title=Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva: Vysšaia Škola |trans-title=Mammals of the Soviet Union, Volume II, Part 2 |url=https://archive.org/stream/mammalsofsov221992gept#page/83/mode/2up |orig-year=1972 |year=1992 |isbn=90-04-08876-8 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden u.a.}} Additionally, a reference to the lion in the region of pilgrimage is found in a hadith.Muwatta Imam Malik, Book 20 (Hajj), Hadith 794{{cite encyclopedia |last=Nasr |first=Seyyed Hossein |author-link=Seyyed Hossein Nasr |title=Ali |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |access-date=2007-10-12 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005712/Ali |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018014146/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005712/Ali |archive-date=October 18, 2007 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |author=Muhammad ibn Saad |title=Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabair |publisher=Ta-Ha Publishers |year=2013 |translator-last=Bewley |translator-first=A. |volume=3 |location=London |chapter=The Companions of Badr}}

File:Indischer Löwe Zoo Zürich 7.JPG|Lions in Zürich Zoo, 2012

File:Syrian wild ass.jpg|A galloping wild ass in Vienna Zoo, 1915. The local subspecies is now extinct.

{{Main|Names and titles of Muhammad}}

Muddaththir is one of the names or titles of Muhammad. Later, it is used as a male given name spelt as "Mudathir" or "Mudather" in the Arabian Peninsula or Africa, and as "Mudassar" in Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

• Prophets and messengers in Islam

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{wikisource-inline|The Holy Qur'an (Maulana Muhammad Ali)/74. The One Wrapping Himself Up}}
• [https://wikilivres.org/wiki/The_Holy_Qur%27an The Holy Qur'an], translated by [https://wikilivres.org/wiki/Abdullah_Yusuf_Ali Abdullah Yusuf Ali]
• {{gutenberg author| id=7047| name=Marmaduke Pickthall}}
• [https://quran.com/74 Quran 74] Sahih International translation

{{Sura|74|Al-Muzzammil|Al-Qiyama}}

{{Authority control}}

Muddathir