The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him over the 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 made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33