The Pen

Nun By the pen and by that which they inscribe.

Thou art nor, through the grace of thy Lord, mad.

And verily thine shall be a hire unending."

And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition.

Anon thou wilt see and they will see:

Which of you is afflicted with madness.

Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one,

Wherefore obey not thou the beliers.

Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant.

And obey not: thou any swearer ignominous.

A defamer, spreader abroad of slander.

Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner.

Gross, and therewithal ignoble-

Because he is owner of riches and children.

When Our revelations are rehearsed Unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients.

Anon We shall brand him on snout.

Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they swarethat they would surely reap it in the morning.

And they made not the exception.

Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on.

Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped.

Then they cried out Unto each other in the morning,

Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap.

So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice:

Let there not enter upon you today any needy man.

And they went out betimes determined in purpose.

Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed.

Aye! it is we who are deprived!

The most moderate of them said: said I not Unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not!

They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong- doers.

Then they turned to each other reproaching

They said: woe Unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant.

Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are Unto our Lord beseechers.

Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew.

Verily for the God-fearing, are with their Lord Gardens of Delight.

Shall We then make the Muslims like the culprits?

What aileth you? How ill ye judge!

Is there with you a Book wherein ye study:

That therein is yours that which. ye may choose?

Or have ye oaths from us reaching to the Day of Resurrection, that you shall be that which ye judge?

Ask then, which of them will stand thereof a surety?

Have they associate gods? Then let them produce their associate gods if they say sooth!

Remember the Day whereon the shank shall be bared and they shall be called upon to Prostrate themselves, but they shall not be able.

Downcast will be their looks; abjectness will overspread them. Surely they had been called upon to Prostrate themselves while yet they were whole.

Let Me alone with him who belieth this discourse; step by step We lead them on when they perceive not.

And I bear with them; verily My contrivance is sure.

Askest thou a hire from them so that they are laden with debt?

Is with them the unseen, so that they write down?

Be patient thou, then, with thy Lord's judgment, and be thou not like him of the fish, when he cried out while he was in anguish.

Had not grace from his Lord reached him, he had surely been cast into the wilderness in a plight.

Then his Lord chose him and made him of the righteous.

And those who disbelieve well-nigh cause thee to stumble with their looks when they hear the Admonition, and they say: verily he is mad.

While it is naught but an admonition Unto the worlds.