The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 So (O Muhammad SAW) obey not the deniers [(of Islamic Monotheism those who belie the Verses of Allah), the Oneness of Allah, and the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad SAW), etc.] 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 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, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33