The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 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 on 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 ("if God wills"). 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33