The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and that which they write (therewith), 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 obstructing virtues, a sinful transgressor, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 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 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33