The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will 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 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 Foul mouthed, and in addition to all this, of improper lineage. 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33