The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We shall brand him over the 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 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33