The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 And they made not the exception. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 Maybe our Lord will give us better than this. We turn to our Lord in supplication." 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33