The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 obstructing virtues, a sinful transgressor, 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 Now We have tried them, even as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck in the morning 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33