مدثر
al-Muddaththir
A name of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), “the one wrapped in his cloak”, with which God addresses him in the Quran (74:1).
What it means
Al-muddaththir means the one covering himself with a cloak. God addresses the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) with it in the opening of the seventy-fourth surah: “O you who are wrapped in your cloak, arise and warn” (74:1–2). The surah takes its name from the word. The reports say that after the first revelation in the cave of Hira, the Prophet returned shaking and asked to be covered, and later this surah was sent (Sahih al-Bukhari). The address turns him from rest to the task of warning, and it is often cited as the start of the public call. The seventy-third surah, al-Muzzammil, addresses him in a similar way.
Often misunderstood as
It is a Quranic address to the Prophet and not a title of rank, and it should be read with its command to arise and warn.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 32, listed as MUDDATHTHIR. The definition is restated here.