The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and that which they write (therewith), 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next morning, 17 And they made not the exception. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 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 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "Verily, we have gone astray," 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 Saying: "Alas the woe, we were iniquitous. 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 Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33