The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 you are not, because of the favor of your Lord, mad. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 obstructing virtues, a sinful transgressor, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 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 (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33