The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 You shall 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 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 Who hinders men from (doing) good, the transgressor, the iniquitous, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 16 Now We have tried them, even as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck in the morning 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "Verily, we have gone astray," 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know. 33