The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 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 was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33