| | T.B.Irving rendition of Surah The Pen(al-Qalam)
--- |
|---|
| 68:1 | | N. By the pen and whatever they record, |
| 68:2 | | you, by your Lord´s favor, are no madman! |
| 68:3 | | You will receive payment which will never be withheld. |
| 68:4 | | You have been [formed] with tremendous character, |
| 68:5 | | so you will observe even as they observe, |
| 68:6 | | which of you is being tested. |
| 68:7 | | Your Lord is quite Aware as to who has strayed from His path, just as He is quite Aware as to who are guided. |
| 68:8 | | Do not obey rejectors; |
| 68:9 | | they would love to have you shift about so they too may shift around. |
| 68:10 | | Do not obey every contemptible oathmonger, |
| 68:11 | | any faultfinder who goes around spreading gossip, |
| 68:12 | | hindering good, defiant, vicious, |
| 68:13 | | brawling, and a bastard besides that |
| 68:14 | | even though he possesses both money and children. |
| 68:15 | | Whenever Our verses are recited to him, he says: "Legends by primitive people!" |
| 68:16 | | We shall brand him on the snout! |
| 68:17 | | We shall test them just as We tested the owners of the orchard when they swore they would pick its fruit next morning |
| 68:18 | | and did not make any reservation about having a second chance; |
| 68:19 | | so a calamity from your Lord came round to them while they were sleeping |
| 68:20 | | and one morning it lay as if it had been already harvested! |
| 68:21 | | Thus they called out to one another next morning: |
| 68:22 | | "Get out early to your crop if you [want to] harvest it!" |
| 68:23 | | They hurried off muttering to one another: |
| 68:24 | | "Don´t admit any needy person in on you today!" |
| 68:25 | | So they went off early, grumbling yet ready for work, |
| 68:26 | | and when they saw it, they said: "We must be lost! |
| 68:27 | | In fact, we feel destitute." |
| 68:28 | | Someone more considerate among them said: "Did I not tell you: ´Why do you not glorify [God]?"´ |
| 68:29 | | They said: "Glory be to our Lord; we have been doing (something) wrong." |
| 68:30 | | Still some of them pounced on others, blaming one another; |
| 68:31 | | they said: "It´s too bad for us; we have been so arrogant. |
| 68:32 | | Perhaps our Lord will exchange it for something even better than what we already have. We will plead with our Lord!" |
| 68:33 | | Such is torment, although torment in the Hereafter will be even greater if they only realized it. |
| 68:34 | | The heedful will have gardens of bliss alongside their Lord. |
| 68:35 | | Are We to treat Muslims as if they were criminals? |
| 68:36 | | What is wrong with you? How do you decide matters? |
| 68:37 | | Or do you have some book to study from? |
| 68:38 | | Do you have whatever you select from it? |
| 68:39 | | Or do you have some pledge binding on Us until Resurrection Day that you shall have whatever you decide upon?" |
| 68:40 | | Ask them which of them will lay claim to that. |
| 68:41 | | Or do they have associates [along with God]? Well, let them bring on their associates if they are so truthful. |
| 68:42 | | Some day when their shinbone will be laid bare and they will be called upon to bow down on their knees, and they will not manage to; |
| 68:43 | | with their eyes cast down, disgrace will overwhelm them. They had been called upon to bow down on their knees while they still felt safe. |
| 68:44 | | Leave Me Alone as well as anyone who rejects this account: We will lead them on gradually by means they do not recognize. |
| 68:45 | | I shall even put up with them for a while; for My plan is certain. |
| 68:46 | | Or are you asking them for some fee while they are weighted down with debt? |
| 68:47 | | Or do they hold the Unseen which they are writing down? |
| 68:48 | | Be patient with your Lord´s decision and not like the Whale´s Companion when he called out as he felt stifled. |
| 68:49 | | If favor from his Lord had not reached him, he would have been flung upon the empty beach while he was still to blame. |
| 68:50 | | His Lord picked him out and placed him with honorable people. |
| 68:51 | | The ones who disbelieve almost trip you up by glaring at you whenever they hear the Reminder, and they say: "He´s deranged!" |
| 68:52 | | Yet it is merely a Reminder to [everybody in] the Universe. |
