The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 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 a prey to madness. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33