The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 You are not insane, by the munificence of your Lord. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Heed not the type of despicable men,- ready with oaths, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 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 was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33