The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 You will 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 give in to the deniers of truth. 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 One who excessively forbids the good, transgressor, sinner. 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 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 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 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 departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33