The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen, and what they inscribe, 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 Then they started blaming 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 (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33