The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 Who is distracted. 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 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are ancient legends". 15 We will soon singe his pig-nose. 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33