The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Surely thy Lord knows very well those who have gone astray from His way, and He knows very well those who are guided. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 moreover ignoble, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 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 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 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 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 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 (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33