The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33