The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 So hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next morning, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33