The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nuun* – by oath of the pen and by oath of what is written by it. (Alphabet of the Arabic language; Allah and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 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 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they went in the morning with strong intention, thinking that they have power (to prevent the poor taking anything of the fruits therefrom). 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33