NūN. By the pen and what they inscribe
You are not, by the blessings of your Rabb, a man possessed.
And of certain, for you is an unconditional reward.
And you surely are upon a great morality
So, shall you see, and they too will see,
which ones of you are the ones distracted [from Reality]?
Indeed, your Rabb best knows who has strayed from HIS path, and HE best knows about the ones who are rightly guided.
Therefore, do not obey the truth-beliers.
They have wished that you would gloss over [the Truth]— so they could gloss [the lie].
[Do not obey the truth-beliers] and do not obey, each and all [be they]: a worthless oath taker,
a walking slanderer with malicious gossip,
a hinderer of the good and beneficial, a transgressor, one lost in sin
a beastly one, beyond that, pompous
[on account] that he is a possessor of wealth and sons.
When OUR verses are recited unto him, he says, “Fables of the ancients.”
WE shall brand him with conspicuous disgrace
Surely, WE have tested them, just as WE tested the beneficiaries of the garden, when they vowed, that morning-bound they would surely fully harvest it,
and no exceptions did they entertain.
Then, while they were asleep, a visitation from your Rabb made its rounds over it,
and by morning it was like the garden plucked clean.
Then, morning-fresh, they called unto each other:
Be early unto your plantation if you be harvesters.
Thus, they set off, while they spoke in hushed tones:
“Not any needy must enter it today to intrude on you.”
And they had gone early, on a furious mission, as ones to control the measuring out.
But then the moment they beheld it, they said, “We are surely lost!”
“Nay, we have been dispossessed!”
Said, the most realistic of them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Why do you not think and live cognizant of God?”
Said they, “Limitless is the glory of our Rabb. Surely, we were ever wrong.”
Then some approached others, sorting out the blame.
They said, “O our woe. We were unrestrained usurpers.
“It may be that our Rabb will give us better than it in exchange. Surely, we are oriented toward our Rabb.”
Such is the chastisement. And the definite punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they only knew.
Indeed, for the God-conscious with their Rabb are gardens of the eternal bliss.
Are WE to treat those who had submitted like the flouters of divine guidance?
What is with you? How do you judge?
Or do you have a book in which you delve studying?
In which for you is whatever you choose to pick?
Or do you have promises binding on US, through to the Day of Resurrection, that for you is assuredly just what you decide?
Ask them which of them is a guarantor of that.
Or do they have partners? Then let them bring their partners if they be truthful.
On a day, when every shin is laid bare [i.e., everyone is assembled before God], and they are invited to the prostration [to Allah]— then without ability will they be.
Their eyes lowered, shame overwhelming them— having had been called to prostrations while they were whole and able.
So, leave [it to] ME and [leave such to be], he who gives the lie to this message. WE shall encroach on them from where they do not know.
I give them leeway. Indeed, MY plan is ever immovably firm.
Or do you ask them for compensation, hence they are heavily burdened with debt?
Or is the unseen Realm by their side and so they are busy writing?
So then, be patient for the judgment of your Rabb and be not like the one claimed by the great fish when he called out, while he was filled with suppressed anguish.
If it were not that a blessing from his Rabb was incessantly with him, he would surely have been hurled upon a barren shore, while he was still to blame.
Thus had his Rabb picked him, then placed him amongst the righteous
And those who have disbelieved nearly make you slip with their stares, whenever they hear the Reminder, saying, “He is most certainly possessed.”
And it is nothing except a Reminder for all Realms.