The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 "Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in the morning, if ye would gather the fruits." 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 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 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33