The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 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 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said 'Woe to 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 the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it! 33