The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. [These letters (Nun, etc.) are one of the miracles of the Quran, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. By the pen and what the (angels) write (in the Records of men). 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Foul mouthed, and in addition to all this, of improper lineage. 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 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 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)? 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33