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, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him on his nose. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 And they made not the exception. 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33