The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nuun* – by oath of the pen and by oath of what is written by it. (Alphabet of the Arabic language; Allah and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33