68:1  NūN. By the pen and what they inscribe

68:2  You are not, by the blessings of your Rabb, a man possessed.

68:3  And of certain, for you is an unconditional reward.

68:4  And you surely are upon a great morality

68:5  So, shall you see, and they too will see,

68:6  which ones of you are the ones distracted [from Reality]?

68:7  Indeed, your Rabb best knows who has strayed from HIS path, and HE best knows about the ones who are rightly guided.

68:8  Therefore, do not obey the truth-beliers.

68:9  They have wished that you would gloss over [the Truth]— so they could gloss [the lie].

68:10  [Do not obey the truth-beliers] and do not obey, each and all [be they]: a worthless oath taker,

68:11  a walking slanderer with malicious gossip,

68:12  a hinderer of the good and beneficial, a transgressor, one lost in sin

68:13  a beastly one, beyond that, pompous

68:14  [on account] that he is a possessor of wealth and sons.

68:15  When OUR verses are recited unto him, he says, “Fables of the ancients.”

68:16  WE shall brand him with conspicuous disgrace

68:17  Surely, WE have tested them, just as WE tested the beneficiaries of the garden, when they vowed, that morning-bound they would surely fully harvest it,

68:18  and no exceptions did they entertain.

68:19  Then, while they were asleep, a visitation from your Rabb made its rounds over it,

68:20  and by morning it was like the garden plucked clean.

68:21  Then, morning-fresh, they called unto each other:

68:22  Be early unto your plantation if you be harvesters.

68:23  Thus, they set off, while they spoke in hushed tones:

68:24  “Not any needy must enter it today to intrude on you.”

68:25  And they had gone early, on a furious mission, as ones in full control.

68:26  But then the moment they beheld it, they said, “We are surely lost!”

68:27  “Nay, we have been dispossessed!”

68:28  Said, the most realistic of them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Why do you not think and live cognizant of God?”

68:29  Said they, “Limitless is the glory of our Rabb. Surely, we were ever wrong.”

68:30  Then some approached others, sorting out the blame.

68:31  They said, “O our woe. We were unrestrained usurpers.

68:32  “It may be that our Rabb will give us better than it in exchange. Surely, we are oriented toward our Rabb.”

68:33  Such is the chastisement. And the definite punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they only knew.

68:34  Indeed, for the God-conscious with their Rabb are gardens of the eternal bliss.

68:35  Are WE to treat those who had submitted like the flouters of divine guidance?

68:36  What is with you? How do you judge?

68:37  Or do you have a book in which you delve studying?

68:38  In which for you is whatever you choose to pick?

68:39  Or do you have promises binding on US, through to the Day of Resurrection, that for you is assuredly just what you decide?

68:40  Ask them which of them is a guarantor of that.

68:41  Or do they have partners? Then let them bring their partners if they be truthful.

68:42  On a day, when every shin is laid bare [i.e., everyone is assembled before God], and they are invited to the prostration [to Allah]— then without ability will they be.

68:43  Their eyes lowered, shame overwhelming them— having had been called to prostrations while they were whole and able.

68:44  So, leave [it to] ME and [leave such to be], he who gives the lie to this Message. WE shall encroach on them from where they do not know.

68:45  I give them leeway. Verily, MY plan is ever firm and complete.

68:46  Or do you ask them for compensation, hence they are heavily burdened with debt?

68:47  Or is the unseeable Realm by their side and so they are busy writing?

68:48  So then, be patient for the judgment of your Rabb and be not like the one claimed by the great fish when he called out, while he was filled with suppressed anguish.

68:49  If it were not that a blessing from his Rabb was incessantly with him, he would surely have been hurled upon a barren shore, while he was still to blame.

68:50  Thus had his Rabb picked him, then placed him amongst the righteous

68:51  And those who have disbelieved nearly make you slip with their stares, whenever they hear the Reminder, saying, “He is most certainly possessed.”

68:52  And it is nothing except a Reminder for all Realms.