The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 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 muzzle. 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33