The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 One who excessively forbids the good, transgressor, sinner. 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33