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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.