The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says: 'They are but fairytales of the ancients' 15 We shall brand him on his nose. 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33