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, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "Verily, we have gone astray," 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had 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 is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33