The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most 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 lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And verily, you (O Muhammad SAW) are on an exalted standard of character. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 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 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 the crude of low character 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 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 made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 In the morning they called out to one another, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 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