The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 One who excessively forbids the good, transgressor, sinner. 12 the crude of low character 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 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 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33