The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 Indeed, there is an unfailing wage for you. 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Do not yield to those who reject 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 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 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 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 In the morning they called out to one another, 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then they approached one another, blaming each other. 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 than it; to our Lord we humbly turn.' 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33