The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nuun* – by oath of the pen and by oath of what is written by it. (Alphabet of the Arabic language; Allah and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 And verily, for you (O Muhammad SAW) will be an endless reward. 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 Verily We have tried them as We tried the People of the Garden, when they resolved to gather the fruits of the (garden) in the morning. 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 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 was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33