The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are ancient legends". 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next 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 in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 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 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33