The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then they approached one another, blaming each other. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33