The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily, for you (O Muhammad SAW) will be an endless reward. 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We will soon singe his pig-nose. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 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