The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are just ancient fables." 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 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 saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 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 torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33