The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Surely thy Lord knows very well those who have gone astray from His way, and He knows very well those who are guided. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 obstructing virtues, a sinful transgressor, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We will soon singe his pig-nose. 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33