The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 For you are verily born of sublime nature. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 just because he has wealth and sons, 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33