The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We shall brand him on his 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 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 Then they approached one another, blaming each other. 30 Saying: "Alas the woe, we were iniquitous. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; 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