The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen, and all that they write! 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 In the morning they called out to one another, 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 Saying: "Alas the woe, we were iniquitous. 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33