The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 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 Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We will brand him upon the 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 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 "Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in the morning, if ye would gather the fruits." 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for 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 torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33