The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ 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 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Indeed, there is an unfailing wage for you. 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 SUCH is the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it! 33