The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 without adding ("if God wills"). 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto 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 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 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 the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it! 33