The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 Foul mouthed, and in addition to all this, of improper lineage. 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The best among them said: "Did I not tell you: why do you not say: Insha' Allah (If Allah will)." 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Maybe our Lord will give us better than this. We turn to our Lord in supplication." 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33