The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 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 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33