— 52 verses
Nun By the pen, and all that they write
By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man
Most surely, you will have a never ending reward
For you are truly of a sublime character
Soon you will see, as will they
which of you is a prey to madness
Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path
Do not give in to the deniers of truth
They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate
Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths
or to any defamer or one who spreads slander
or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor
who is ignoble and besides all that, baseborn
just because he has wealth and sons
when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, These are just ancient fables
Soon We will brand him on the nose
We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning
without saying, If it be God's will
A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept
And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land
So they called out to each other at the break of dawn
saying, Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits
So they went off, whispering to one another
Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today
They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent
But when they saw it, they said, We must have lost our way
Indeed, we are utterly ruined
The more upright of the two said, Did I not bid you to glorify God
They said, Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong
Then they began to heap reproaches on each other
They said, Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale
May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him
Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it
Those who are mindful of their Lord will be rewarded with gardens of bliss
Should We treat the true believers and the wrongdoers alike
What ails you? How ill you judge
Have you a Scripture that tells yo
that you will be granted whatever you choose
Or do you have Our solemn oaths, binding upon Us till the Day of Resurrection, that you shall have whatever you yourselves decide
Ask them, which of them will vouch for that
Or have they other partners [besides God]? Let them bring forth their other partners, if what they say be true
On the Day when the truth shall be laid bare, they will be called upon to prostrate themselves, but they will not be able to do so
Their eyes will be cast down and they will be covered in shame; they were bidden to prostrate themselves, when they were safe and sound [but they did not obey]
So leave to Me those who reject this message. We shall lead them step by step to their ruin, in ways beyond their ken
I shall grant them some respite, for My plan is powerful
Do you demand some recompense from them that would weigh them down with debt
Is the unseen within their grasp so that they write it down
Wait patiently for your Lords judgement; do not be like the man who, having been swallowed by a whale, called out in distress
Had his Lords grace not been bestowed upon him, he would have been cast away in disgrace upon that desolate shore
But his Lord chose him for His own and made him one of the righteous
When those who deny the truth hear the admonition, they would almost cause you to stumble with their evil eyes; and they say, He is certainly mad
Yet it is purely an admonition to mankind