The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 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 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We shall 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 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 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 was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33