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 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are just ancient fables." 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 And were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 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 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33