The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders, 11 One who excessively forbids the good, transgressor, sinner. 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33