Surat al-Muddaththir

←  Sura 74 of the Quran  →

المدثر Al-Muddaththir The Cloaked One
Arabic text · English translation
Classification	Meccan
Other names	The Man Wearing a Cloak, The Clothed One, Shrouded, The Enfolded One, The Hidden Secret
Position	Juzʼ 29
No. of Rukus	2
No. of verses	56
No. of words	256
No. of letters	1,035

Arabic text · English translation

Sūrat al-Muddaththir (Arabic: سُـورة الـمُـدّثّـر‎‎, "Chapter of the Cloaked One" or "Chapter of the Man Wearing a Cloak") is the 74th sura of the Qur’an, with 56 ayat.

Most Qur’anic historians agree that this sura was part of the early Meccan revelations. Many well known authors’ chronologies place Surat al-Muddaththir as the second sura revealed to the Prophet Muhammed including Ibn Kathir, 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.”

Sahih al-Bukhari,Sahih Muslim,Jami` at-Tirmidhi,Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, etc. Although reports exist of revelation order other than second, the thematic elements of preparation for the Day of Judgment and warnings for the non-believers are consistent with other early Meccan suras. According to Sayyid Qutb's exegesis, the first verses of this sura as well as those of Sura 73 represent the Prophet’s earliest revelations and those which prepare him for the ordeal of revelation.

Surat al-Muddaththir is structured thematically and chronologically. Containing 56 total verses, this sura was most likely revealed on at least two different 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 sura 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.

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