68 - The Pen
The Pen
  1. Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe,
  2. thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed.
  3. Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing;
  4. surely thou art upon a mighty morality.
  5. So thou shalt see, and they will see,
  6. which of you is the demented.
  7. Surely thy Lord knows very well those who have gone astray from His way, and He knows very well those who are guided.
  8. So obey thou not those who cry lies.
  9. They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise.
  10. And obey thou not every mean swearer,
  11. backbiter, going about with slander,
  12. hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained,
  13. moreover ignoble,
  14. because he has wealth and sons.
  15. When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!'
  16. We shall brand him upon the muzzle!
  17. Now We have tried them, even as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck in the morning
  18. and they added not the saving words.
  19. Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping,
  20. and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked.
  21. In the morning they called to one another,
  22. 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!'
  23. So they departed, whispering together,
  24. 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.'
  25. And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose.
  26. But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray;
  27. nay, rather we have been robbed!'
  28. Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"'
  29. They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.'
  30. And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other.
  31. They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent.
  32. It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; to our Lord we humbly turn.'
  33. Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know.
  34. Surely for the godfearing shall be Gardens of Bliss with their Lord.
  35. What, shall we make those who have surrendered like to the sinners?
  36. What ails you then, how you judge?
  37. Or have you a Book wherein you study?
  38. Surely therein you shall have whatever you choose!
  39. Or have you oaths from Us, reaching to the Day of Resurrection? Surely you shall have whatever you judge!
  40. Ask them, which of them will guarantee that!
  41. Or do they have associates? Then let them bring their associates, if they speak truly.
  42. Upon the day when the leg shall be bared, and they shall be summoned to bow themselves, but they cannot;
  43. humbled shall be their eyes, and abasement shall overspread them, for they had been summoned to bow themselves while they were whole.
  44. So leave Me with him who cries lies to this discourse! We will draw them on little by little whence they know not;
  45. and I shall respite them -- assuredly My guile is sure.
  46. Or askest thou them for a wage, and so they are weighed down with debt?
  47. Or is the Unseen in their keeping, and so they are writing it down?
  48. So be thou patient under the judgment of thy Lord, and be not as the Man of the Fish, when he called, choking inwardly.
  49. Had there not overtaken him a blessing from his Lord he would have been cast upon the wilderness, being condemned.
  50. But his Lord had chosen him, and He placed him among the righteous.
  51. The unbelievers wellnigh strike thee down with their glances, when they hear the Reminder, and they say, 'Surely he is a man possessed!'
  52. And it is nothing but a Reminder unto all beings.