The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 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 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 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 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33