The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nuun* – by oath of the pen and by oath of what is written by it. (Alphabet of the Arabic language; Allah and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Surely thy Lord knows very well those who have gone astray from His way, and He knows very well those who are guided. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are just ancient fables." 15 We will brand him on the nose. 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 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said, "Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 29 Then they turned to each other reproaching. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33