The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and that which they write (therewith), 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 (Habitually) hindering (all) good, transgressing beyond bounds, deep in sin, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 without adding ("if God wills"). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 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 be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33