The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then they approached one another, blaming each other. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33