The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 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 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Who hinders men from (doing) good, the transgressor, the iniquitous, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are just ancient fables." 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 Without making exception. 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33