The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 (Habitually) hindering (all) good, transgressing beyond bounds, deep in sin, 12 the crude of low character 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Now We have tried them, even as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck in the morning 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33