The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 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 that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 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 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 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33