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 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 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 want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says: 'They are but fairytales of the ancients' 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next morning, 17 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33