The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 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* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 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 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 "Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in the morning, if ye would gather the fruits." 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33