The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 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 obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We will soon singe his pig-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 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 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 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33