The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 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 just because he has wealth and sons, 14 when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are just ancient fables." 15 We will soon singe his pig-nose. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they went off, 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, "We must have lost our way. 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33