The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33