The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 which of you is the demented. 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 hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33