The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 And verily, for you (O Muhammad SAW) will be an endless reward. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33