The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 And they made not the exception. 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33