The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of 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 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they turned to each other reproaching. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33