The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 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 Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt 13 just because he has wealth and sons, 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 without adding ("if God wills"). 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33