The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 the crude of low character 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 We shall brand him on 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 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 Saying: "Alas the woe, we were iniquitous. 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