The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and that which they write (therewith), 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 (Habitually) hindering (all) good, transgressing beyond bounds, deep in sin, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 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 saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; 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