The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 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 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 the crude of low character 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, "Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 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 certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33