The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nuun* – by oath of the pen and by oath of what is written by it. (Alphabet of the Arabic language; Allah and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 You are not insane, by the munificence of your Lord. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall 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 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33