The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 the crude of low character 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 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 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 They said, "Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 29 Then some of them advanced against others, 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 in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33