The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 You are not insane, by the munificence of your Lord. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 And they made not the exception. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "Verily, we have gone astray," 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 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, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33