The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. [These letters (Nun, etc.) are one of the miracles of the Quran, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. By the pen and what the (angels) write (in the Records of men). 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 Verily We have tried them as We tried the People of the Garden, when they resolved to gather the fruits of the (garden) in the morning. 17 without adding ("if God wills"). 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33