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 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 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 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 Who hinders men from (doing) good, the transgressor, the iniquitous, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says: 'They are but fairytales of the ancients' 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 "Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in the morning, if ye would gather the fruits." 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 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 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 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 turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 Saying: "Alas the woe, we were iniquitous. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33