The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Surely thy Lord knows very well those who have gone astray from His way, and He knows very well those who are guided. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 And they made not the exception. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Some of them started to blame others. 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 the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33