The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 obstructing virtues, a sinful transgressor, 12 ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt 13 Because he is owner of riches and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says: 'They are but fairytales of the ancients' 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 Saying: "Alas the woe, we were iniquitous. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33