The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods 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 on the nose. 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 making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 The best among them said: "Did I not tell you: why do you not say: Insha' Allah (If Allah will)." 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33