The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and that which they write (therewith), 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 For you are verily born of sublime nature. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 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 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33