The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 When Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are ancient legends". 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)? 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33