The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 you are not, because of the favor of your Lord, mad. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 Who hinders men from (doing) good, the transgressor, the iniquitous, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33