The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor, 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 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 when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33