The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 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 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 In the morning they called out to one another, 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33