The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 And verily, you (O Muhammad SAW) are on an exalted standard of character. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 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 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 And they went in the morning with strong intention, thinking that they have power (to prevent the poor taking anything of the fruits therefrom). 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33