The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the Pen and the (Record) which (men) write,- 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33