The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 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 shall brand him on the nose. 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 Without making exception. 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 Maybe our Lord will give us better than this. We turn to our Lord in supplication." 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know. 33