English - Chapter 68 - Al-Qalam

Nun. By the pen and what they write

By the grace of your Lord you are not a madman

and you shall have a never ending reward

You are of the highest noble character

Soon you will see - as they will see

which of you is afflicted with madness

Surely it is your Lord Who knows those who have strayed from His Way, as He knows best those who are rightly guided

So do not yield to the unbelievers

They desire you to compromise a little, so they too would compromise

Neither yield to any mean oath-monger

mischief making slanderer

opponent of good, transgressor

wicked oppressor, and above all, ignoble by birth

though he be possessing wealth and children

When Our revelations are recited to him , he says: "They are nothing but the tales of the ancients

Soon We shall brand him on the snout

Surely We shall try them as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore that they would pluck its fruit the next morning

without adding any reservation ( such as God willing)

So a calamity from your Lord came down upon it while they slept

and by the morning it lay as if it had been already harvested

At daybreak they called out to one another

saying: "Go out early to your crop, if you want to pick its fruit

So they went, whispering to one another

Let no needy person enter upon you in the garden today

Thus they went out, fixed in their stingy resolve (not to give any fruit to the poor people, as if they had the full control over harvesting the fruit)

But when they saw the garden, they cried: "Surely we must have lost our way

Nay, we have become destitute

The most upright among them said: "Did I not tell you to glorify Allah? Why did you not glorify Him

Then they said: "Glory be to our Lord! Surely we were unjust

and they started blaming one another

Finally they said: "Woe to us! Surely we had become rebellious

It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better garden than this: surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition

Such is the punishment in this life; but the punishment in the Hereafter is even greater, if they but knew it

Surely the righteous will be rewarded with gardens of delight by their Lord

What do the disbelievers think? Shall We treat the Muslims as We treat the guilty

What is the matter with you? What kind of Judgment do you make

Or do you have a Book in which you read

that you shall be given whatever you choose

Or do you have a sworn covenant - a covenant binding on Us till the Day of Resurrection - that you shall have whatever you demand

Ask if any of them will vouch for that

Or do they have other gods who could help them against Allah? If so, let them produce their other gods if they are truthful

On the Day of Judgment, when the dreadful events shall be unfolded, and they shall be asked to prostrate themselves, they shall not be able to do so

They shall stand with eyes downcast, utterly humbled; because during their safe and sound earthly life they were called upon to prostrate themselves but they refused to do so

O Prophet, leave to Me those who reject this revelation. We shall lead them step by step to their ruin, in ways that they cannot perceive

I shall even put up with them for a while; for My plan is fool proof

Or have you, O Prophet, demanded a compensation from them, that they are overburdened with debt

Or do they have the knowledge of the unseen and they are writing it down

So wait with patience for the Judgment of your Lord and be not like the man of the fish (reference is to the Prophet Jonah who was swallowed by a whale), who cried when he was in distress

Had his Lord not bestowed on him His grace, he would certainly have been cast off on the naked shore, while he was condemned

But his Lord choose him and included him among the righteous

The unbelievers would almost trip you up with their eyes when they hear Our revelations (The Qur’an), and say: "He (Muhammad) is surely crazy