The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33