The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33