The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 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 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 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