The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 obstructing virtues, a sinful transgressor, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 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 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 and they added not the saving words. 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 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 when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 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 was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33