The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 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 Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33