The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33