The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 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 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 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said, "Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 29 Then they approached one another, blaming each other. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us better than this. We turn to our Lord in supplication." 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33