The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 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 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 And they made not the exception. 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 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 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33