The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 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 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33