The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 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 obey those who belie, 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We will brand him on 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 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33