The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 which of you is the demented. 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 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 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 and they added not the saving words. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 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