The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-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 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 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 yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 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 Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33