The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 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 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) 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 in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 "Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in the morning, if ye would gather the fruits." 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 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 chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33