The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most 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 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 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 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 Simply because he possesses 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 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 they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said, "Woe to us. We have been arrogant. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33