The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33