The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33