The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 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 wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 And they made not the exception. 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they turned to each other reproaching. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 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 is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33