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

shakir
 
1.  *     Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write,
 
2.  *     By the grace of your Lord you are not mad.
 
3.  *     And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off.
 
4.  *     And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality.
 
5.  *     So you shall see, and they (too) shall see,
 
6.  *     Which of you is afflicted with madness.
 
7.  *     Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course.
 
8.  *     So do not yield to the rejecters.
 
9.  *     They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant.
 
10.  *     And yield not to any mean swearer
 
11.  *     Defamer, going about with slander
 
12.  *     Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful,
 
13.  *     Ignoble, besides all that, base-born;
 
14.  *     Because he possesses wealth and sons.
 
15.  *     When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore.
 
16.  *     We will brand him on the nose.
 
17.  *     Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning,
 
18.  *     And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor).
 
19.  *     Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping.
 
20.  *     So it became as black, barren land.
 
21.  *     And they called out to each other in the morning,
 
22.  *     Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce).
 
23.  *     So they went, while they consulted together secretly,
 
24.  *     Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you.
 
25.  *     And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent.
 
26.  *     But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray
 
27.  *     Nay! we are made to suffer privation.
 
28.  *     The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)?
 
29.  *     They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust.
 
30.  *     Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other.
 
31.  *     Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate:
 
32.  *     Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition.
 
33.  *     Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know!
 
34.  *     Surely those who guard (against evil) shall have with their Lord gardens of bliss.
 
35.  *     What! shall We then make (that is, treat) those who submit as the guilty?
 
36.  *     What has happened to you? How do you judge?
 
37.  *     Or have you a book wherein you read,
 
38.  *     That you have surely therein what you choose?
 
39.  *     Or have you received from Us an agreement confirmed by an oath extending to the day of resurrection that you shall surely have what you demand?
 
40.  *     Ask them which of them will vouch for that,
 
41.  *     Or have they associates if they are truthful.
 
42.  *     On the day when there shall be a severe affliction, and they shall be called upon to make obeisance, but they shall not be able,
 
43.  *     Their looks cast down, abasement shall overtake them; and they were called upon to make obeisance indeed while yet they were safe.
 
44.  *     So leave Me and him who rejects this announcement; We will overtake them by degrees, from whence they perceive not:
 
45.  *     And I do bear with them, surely My plan is firm.
 
46.  *     Or do you ask from them a reward, so that they are burdened with debt?
 
47.  *     Or have they (the knowledge of) the unseen, so that they write (it) down?
 
48.  *     So wait patiently for the judgment of your Lord, and be not like the companion of the fish, when he cried while he was in distress.
 
49.  *     Were it not that favor from his Lord had overtaken him, he would certainly have been cast down upon the naked Found while he was blamed.
 
50.  *     Then his Lord chose him, and He made him of the good.
 
51.  *     And those who disbelieve would almost smite you with their eyes when they hear the reminder, and they say: Most surely he is mad. Those who disbelieved show their ridicule in their eyes when they hear the message and say, "He is crazy!"
 
52.  *     And it is naught but a reminder to the nations. It is in fact a message to the world.