The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nuun* – by oath of the pen and by oath of what is written by it. (Alphabet of the Arabic language; Allah and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 you are not, because of the favor of your Lord, mad. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33