The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. [These letters (Nun, etc.) are one of the miracles of the Quran, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. By the pen and what the (angels) write (in the Records of men). 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Foul mouthed, and in addition to all this, of improper lineage. 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 16 Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 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 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33