The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. [These letters (Nun, etc.) are one of the miracles of the Quran, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. By the pen and what the (angels) write (in the Records of men). 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 (Habitually) hindering (all) good, transgressing beyond bounds, deep in sin, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 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 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33