The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 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 Without making exception. 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33