The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 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 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33