The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 You are not insane, by the munificence of your Lord. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The best among them said: "Did I not tell you: why do you not say: Insha' Allah (If Allah will)." 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they approached one another, blaming each other. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33