The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)? 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33