The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 Who hinders men from (doing) good, the transgressor, the iniquitous, 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We will brand him on 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 without adding ("if God wills"). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know. 33