The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 the crude of low character 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden 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, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 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 (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33