068. The Pen – Al-Qalam

Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write,

By the grace of your Lord you are not mad.

And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off.

And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality.

So you shall see, and they (too) shall see,

Which of you is afflicted with madness.

Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course.

So do not yield to the rejecters.

They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant.

And yield not to any mean swearer

Defamer, going about with slander

Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful,

Ignoble, besides all that, base-born;

Because he possesses wealth and sons.

When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore.

We will brand him on the nose.

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,

And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor).

Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping.

So it became as black, barren land.

And they called out to each other in the morning,

Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce).

So they went, while they consulted together secretly,

Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you.

And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent.

But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray

Nay! we are made to suffer privation.

The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)?

They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust.

Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other.

Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate:

Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition.

Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know!

Surely those who guard (against evil) shall have with their Lord gardens of bliss.

What! shall We then make (that is, treat) those who submit as the guilty?

What has happened to you? How do you judge?

Or have you a book wherein you read,

That you have surely therein what you choose?

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?

Ask them which of them will vouch for that,

Or have they associates if they are truthful.

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,

Their looks cast down, abasement shall overtake them; and they were called upon to make obeisance indeed while yet they were safe.

So leave Me and him who rejects this announcement; We will overtake them by degrees, from whence they perceive not:

And I do bear with them, surely My plan is firm.

Or do you ask from them a reward, so that they are burdened with debt?

Or have they (the knowledge of) the unseen, so that they write (it) down?

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.

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.

Then his Lord chose him, and He made him of the good.

And those who disbelieve would almost smite you with their eyes when they hear the reminder, and they say: Most surely he is mad.

And it is naught but a reminder to the nations.