The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 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 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders, 11 obstructing virtues, a sinful transgressor, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us better than this. We turn to our Lord in supplication." 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33