* | quran | * | 68. al-qalam. the pen      <   > 

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1.  *     Nun. By the PEN and by what they write,
 
2.  *     Thou, O Prophet; by the grace of thy Lord art not possessed!
 
3.  *     And truly a boundless recompense doth await thee,
 
4.  *     For thou art of a noble nature.
 
5.  *     But thou shalt see and they shall see
 
6.  *     Which of you is the demented.
 
7.  *     Now thy Lord! well knoweth He the man who erreth from his path, and well doth he know those who have yielded to Guidance;
 
8.  *     Give not place, therefore, to those who treat thee as a liar:
 
9.  *     They desire thee to deal smoothly with them: then would they be smooth as oil with thee:
 
10.  *     But yield not to the man of oaths, a despicable person,
 
11.  *     Defamer, going about with slander,
 
12.  *     Hinderer of the good, transgressor, criminal,
 
13.  *     Harsh-beside this, impure by birth,
 
14.  *     Though a man of riches and blessed with sons.
 
15.  *     Who when our wondrous verses are recited to him saith-"Fables of the ancients."
 
16.  *     We will brand him on the nostrils.
 
17.  *     Verily, we have proved them (the Meccans) as we proved the owners of the garden, when they swore that at morn they would cut its fruits;
 
18.  *     But added no reserve.
 
19.  *     Wherefore an encircling desolation from thy Lord swept round it while they slumbered,
 
20.  *     And in the morning it was like a garden whose fruits had all been cut.
 
21.  *     Then at dawn they called to each other,
 
22.  *     Go out early to your field, if ye would cut your dates.
 
23.  *     So on they went whispering to each other,
 
24.  *     No poor man shall set foot this day within your garden;
 
25.  *     And they went out at daybreak with this settled purpose.
 
26.  *     But when they beheld it, they said, "Truly we have been in fault:
 
27.  *     Yes! we are forbidden our fruits."
 
28.  *     The most rightminded of them said, "Did I not say to you, Will ye not give praise to God?"
 
29.  *     They said, "Glory to our Lord! Truly we have done amiss."
 
30.  *     And they fell to blaming one another:
 
31.  *     They said, "Oh woe to us! we have indeed transgressed!
 
32.  *     Haply our Lord will give us in exchange a better garden than this: verily we crave it of our Lord."
 
33.  *     Such hath been our chastisement-but heavier shall be the chastisement of the next world. Ah! did they but know it.
 
34.  *     Verily, for the God-fearing are gardens of delight in the presence of their Lord.
 
35.  *     Shall we then deal with those who have surrendered themselves to God, as with those who offend him?
 
36.  *     What hath befallen you that ye thus judge?
 
37.  *     Have ye a Scripture wherein ye can search out
 
38.  *     That ye shall have the things ye choose?
 
39.  *     Or have ye received oaths which shall bind Us even until the day of the resurrection, that ye shall have what yourselves judge right?
 
40.  *     Ask them which of them will guarantee this?
 
41.  *     Or is it that they have joined gods with God? let them produce those associate-gods of theirs, if they speak truth.
 
42.  *     On the day when men's legs shall be bared, and they shall be called upon to bow in adoration, they shall not be able:
 
43.  *     Their looks shall be downcast: shame shall cover them: because, while yet in safety, they were invited to bow in worship, but would not obey.
 
44.  *     Leave me alone therefore with him who chargeth this revelation with imposture. We will lead them by degrees to their ruin; by ways which they know not;
 
45.  *     Yet will I bear long with them; for my plan is sure.
 
46.  *     Askest thou any recompense from them? But they are burdened with debt.
 
47.  *     Are the secret things within their ken? Do they copy them from the Book of God?
 
48.  *     Patiently then await the judgment of thy Lord, and be not like him who was in the fish, when in deep distress he cried to God.
 
49.  *     Had not favour from his Lord reached him, cast forth would he have been on the naked shore, overwhelmed with shame:
 
50.  *     But his Lord chose him and made him of the just.
 
51.  *     Almost would the infidels strike thee down with their very looks when they hear the warning of the Koran. And they say, "He is certainly possessed."
 
52.  *     Yet is it nothing less than a warning for all creatures.