The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 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 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33