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68:1  Nun. By the Pen and what they write down!
68:2  By the blessing of your Lord, you are not mad.
68:3  You will have a wage which never-fails.
68:4  Indeed you are truly vast in character.
68:5  So you will see and they will see
68:6  which of you is mad.
68:7  Your Lord knows best who is misguided from His Way and He knows best those who are guided.
68:8  So do not obey those who deny the truth.
68:9  They wish that you would conciliate them, then they too would be conciliating.
68:10  But do not obey any vile swearer of oaths,
68:11  any backbiter, slandermonger,
68:12  impeder of good, evil aggressor,
68:13  gross, coarse and furthermore, despicable,
68:14  simply because he possesses wealth and sons.
68:15  When Our Signs are recited to him, he says, ´Just myths of previous peoples!´
68:16  We will brand him on the snout!
68:17  We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore that they would harvest in the morning
68:18  but did not say the redeeming words, ´If Allah wills´.
68:19  So a visitation from your Lord came upon it while they slept
68:20  and in the morning it was like burnt land stripped bare.
68:21  In the morning they called out to one another,
68:22  ´Leave early for your land if you want to pick the fruit.´
68:23  So they set off, quietly saying to one another,
68:24  ´Do not let any poor man into it today while you are there.´
68:25  They left early, intent on carrying out their scheme.
68:26  But when they saw it, they said, ´We must have lost our way.
68:27  No, the truth is we are destitute!´
68:28  The best of them said, ´Did I not say to you, "Why do you not glorify Allah?"´
68:29  They said, ´Glory be to our Lord! Truly we have been wrongdoers.´
68:30  They turned to face each other in mutual accusation.
68:31  They said, ´Woe to us! We were indeed inordinate.
68:32  Maybe our Lord will give us something better than it in exchange. We entreat our Lord.´
68:33  Such is the punishment. And the punishment of the Next World is much greater if they only knew.
68:34  The people who have taqwa will have Gardens of Delight with their Lord.
68:35  Would We make the Muslims the same as the evildoers?
68:36  What is the matter with you? On what basis do you judge?
68:37  Or do you have a Book which you study,
68:38  so that you may have anything in it you choose?
68:39  Or do you have oaths which bind Us, extending to the Day of Rising, that you will have whatever you decide?
68:40  Ask them which of them stands as guarantor for that!
68:41  Or do they have Divine partners? Then let them produce their partners if they are telling the truth!
68:42  On the Day when legs are bared and they are called on to prostrate, they will not be able to do so.
68:43  Their eyes will be downcast, darkened by debasement; for they were called on to prostrate when they were in full possession of their faculties.
68:44  So leave anyone who denies this discourse to Me! We will lead them, step by step, into destruction from where they do not know.
68:45  I will allow them more time. My subterfuge is sure.
68:46  Or do you ask them for a wage so they are weighed down with debt?
68:47  Or is the Unseen in their hands, so they can write out what is to happen?
68:48  So wait steadfastly for the judgement of your Lord. Do not be like the Companion of the Fish when he called out in absolute despair.
68:49  Had a blessing from his Lord not overtaken him, he would have been thrown up on the naked shore, for he was at fault.
68:50  But his Lord chose him and made him one of the righteous.
68:51  Those who are kafir all but strike you down with their evil looks when they hear the Reminder and say, ´He is quite mad.´
68:52  But it is nothing less than a Reminder to all the worlds.