The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ Nun. [These letters (Nun, etc.) are one of the miracles of the Quran, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. By the pen and what the (angels) write (in the Records of men). 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 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 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 Foul mouthed, and in addition to all this, of improper lineage. 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 shall brand him over 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 saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 SUCH is the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it! 33