The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and that which they write (therewith), 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 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 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; 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