The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 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 torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33