The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 And verily, you (O Muhammad SAW) are on an exalted standard of character. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 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 on 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 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33