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 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 Without making exception. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33