The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 Which of you is the demented. 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 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are just ancient fables." 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 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 departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The best among them said: "Did I not tell you: why do you not say: Insha' Allah (If Allah will)." 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33