The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 So hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 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 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33