The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 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 They said, "Woe to us. We have been arrogant. 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33