The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 And verily, you (O Muhammad SAW) are on an exalted standard of character. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says: 'They are but fairytales of the ancients' 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33