The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We shall mark him upon his 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 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33