The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, 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 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 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 did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 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 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33