Al-Qalam

Nūn. By the pen and what they write, the Prophet ﷺ is not mad: he has a reward that never ends and a great character, and soon everyone will see who has truly gone astray. He must not obey the deniers, who want him to soften so they can soften too, nor the vile man who swears oath after oath, slanders, blocks good and boasts of his wealth and sons, calling the verses “legends of the ancients”. Then comes the story of the owners of a garden. They swore to harvest it early in the morning, without saying “if Allah wills”, so that no poor person could get in. While they slept, a calamity from their Lord left it like a field reaped bare. At first they thought they had lost their way, then they knew they had been deprived. The most just of them reminded them to glorify Allah; they admitted their wrong, blamed one another and turned to their Lord in hope. The mindful will have Gardens of Bliss, for Allah will not treat those who submit like the criminals, and the deniers have no book, no promise and no partners to rely on. On the Day the shin is uncovered they will be called to prostrate but will not be able to, as they refused when they were sound. So the Prophet ﷺ is told to be patient and not to be like Yunus, the companion of the fish, whom his Lord forgave and made one of the righteous. The deniers almost knock him down with their stares and call him mad, but the Quran is a reminder to all the worlds.