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 the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 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 adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 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