The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 One who excessively forbids the good, transgressor, sinner. 12 moreover ignoble, 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 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 world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know. 33