The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 And thou wilt 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 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 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 Without making exception. 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33