The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 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 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 the crude of low character 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33