| | Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar rendition of Surah The Pen(al-Qalam)
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| 68:1 | | N]n! By the pen and what they inscribe: |
| 68:2 | | Thou art not, by the divine blessing of thy Lord, one who is possessed. |
| 68:3 | | And, truly, there is for thee certainly, compensation, that which is unfailing. |
| 68:4 | | And, truly, thou art of sublime morals. |
| 68:5 | | Thou wilt perceive and they will perceive |
| 68:6 | | which of you is the one who is demented. |
| 68:7 | | Truly, thy Lord, He is greater in knowledge of whoever went astray from His Way and He is greater in knowledge of ones who are truly guided. |
| 68:8 | | Then, obey not ones who deny. |
| 68:9 | | They wished that thou wouldst compromise with them and they would compromise with thee. |
| 68:10 | | But obey thou not every worthless swearer, defamer, |
| 68:11 | | one who goes about with slander, slandering, |
| 68:12 | | who delays good, a sinful, exceeder of limits, |
| 68:13 | | cruel and after that, ignoble, |
| 68:14 | | because he had been possessor of wealth and children. |
| 68:15 | | When Our signs are recounted to him, he said: Fables of the ancient ones! |
| 68:16 | | We will mark him on the snout! |
| 68:17 | | Truly, We tried them as We tried the Companions of the Garden when they swore an oath that they would pluck fruit, in that which is happening in the morning. |
| 68:18 | | They make no exception by saying if God wills. |
| 68:19 | | Then, a visitation from thy Lord visited it while they were ones who sleep, |
| 68:20 | | in that which is happening in the morning, it was like a plucked garden! |
| 68:21 | | And they called to one another in that which is morning: |
| 68:22 | | Set forth in the early morning dawn to your cultivation if you had been ones who pluck fruit. |
| 68:23 | | So they set out and they whisper, saying: |
| 68:24 | | There will, truly, not enter it today on you any needy person. |
| 68:25 | | And they set forth in the early morning, designing, assuming they were ones who have the power. |
| 68:26 | | But when they saw it, they said: We are, certainly, ones who go astray! |
| 68:27 | | Nay! We are ones who are deprived. |
| 68:28 | | The most moderate of them said: Say I not to you: Why glorify you not God? |
| 68:29 | | They said: Glory be to God, our Lord! Truly, we had been ones who are unjust. |
| 68:30 | | Then, they came forward, some with some others blaming one another. |
| 68:31 | | They said: O woe be to us! Truly, we had been ones who are defiant. |
| 68:32 | | Perhaps our Lord will cause to exchange for us better than it. Truly, we are ones who quest our Lord. |
| 68:33 | | Thus, this is the punishment of this present life, but the punishment of the world to come is greater, if they had been knowing! |
| 68:34 | | Truly, for ones who are Godfearing are Gardens of Bliss with their Lord. |
| 68:35 | | Will We make ones who submit to God as ones who sin? |
| 68:36 | | What is the matter with you? How you give judgment! |
| 68:37 | | Or have you a Book by which you study |
| 68:38 | | that you will have in it whatever you specify? |
| 68:39 | | Or are there oaths from Us, ones that reach through to the Day of Resurrection providing that you will have what you yourselves give as judgment? |
| 68:40 | | Ask them, then, which of them will be a guarantor for that. |
| 68:41 | | Or have they ones they ascribe as associate with God? Then, let them approach with their ascribed associates if they had been ones who are sincere. |
| 68:42 | | On a Day the great calamity will be uncovered and they will be called to prostration, then, they will not be able to do so. |
| 68:43 | | Their sight will be that which is humbled. Abasement will come over them and they had before this been called to prostration while they were ones who are healthy. |
| 68:44 | | So forsake Me and whoever denies this discourse. We will draw them on gradually from where they know not |
| 68:45 | | and I will grant indulgence to them. Truly, My cunning is sure. |
| 68:46 | | Or hast thou asked them for a compensation, so that they would be weighed down from something owed? |
| 68:47 | | Or have they knowledge of the unseen with them so that they write it down? |
| 68:48 | | So be thou patient until the determination of thy Lord and be not like the Companion of the Great Fish when he cried out, one who is suppressed by grief. |
| 68:49 | | If a divine blessing not followed him one after another, from His Lord he would be cast forth on the naked shore while he was one who is condemned. |
| 68:50 | | But his Lord elected him and made him among the ones in accord with morality. |
| 68:51 | | It was almost as if those who were ungrateful looked at thee sternly with their sight when they heard the Remembrance, and they say: He is one who is possessed! |
| 68:52 | | And it is, certainly, not but a Remembrance to the worlds. |
