The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 you are not, because of the favor of your Lord, mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 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 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 without adding ("if God wills"). 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 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! In truth we were outrageous. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know. 33