The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Surely thy Lord knows very well those who have gone astray from His way, and He knows very well those who are guided. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 Heed not the type of despicable men,- ready with oaths, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)? 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then they started blaming 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 chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33