The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you is the demented. 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 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 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 were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 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 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33