The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and that which they write (therewith), 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 the crude of low character 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We shall brand him on his nose. 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33