The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, 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 Indeed, there is an unfailing wage for you. 3 For you are verily born of sublime nature. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33