The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are ancient legends". 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 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33