The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are just ancient fables." 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they turned to each other reproaching. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33