The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 Indeed, there is an unfailing wage for you. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 So hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 One who excessively forbids the good, transgressor, sinner. 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall mark him upon his 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 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 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 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33