The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 Anon thou wilt 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, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 Verily We have tried them as We tried the People of the Garden, when they resolved to gather the fruits of the (garden) in the morning. 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33