The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33