The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 So hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 the crude of low character 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33