The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 You are not insane, by the munificence of your Lord. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 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 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33