The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 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 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then they approached one another, blaming each other. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 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 truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33