The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nuun* – by oath of the pen and by oath of what is written by it. (Alphabet of the Arabic language; Allah and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Indeed, there is an unfailing wage for you. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 obstructing virtues, a sinful transgressor, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33