The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And verily, you (O Muhammad SAW) are on an exalted standard of character. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Foul mouthed, and in addition to all this, of improper lineage. 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 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 were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 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 punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33