The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 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 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard 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 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33