The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nuun* – by oath of the pen and by oath of what is written by it. (Alphabet of the Arabic language; Allah and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great 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 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 moreover ignoble, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are ancient legends". 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 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 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard 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 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33