The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 Indeed, there is an unfailing wage for you. 3 For you are verily born of sublime nature. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 Heed not the type of despicable men,- ready with oaths, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him on his nose. 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 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 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