The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ Nun. By the pen and that which they write (therewith), 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The best among them said: "Did I not tell you: why do you not say: Insha' Allah (If Allah will)." 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; to our Lord we humbly turn.' 32 SUCH is the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it! 33