The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And verily, you (O Muhammad SAW) are on an exalted standard of character. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 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 you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says: 'They are but fairytales of the ancients' 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33