The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 And verily, for you (O Muhammad SAW) will be an endless reward. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 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 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We shall mark him upon his 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 without adding ("if God wills"). 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; to our Lord we humbly turn.' 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33