The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We will soon singe his pig-nose. 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 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 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The best among them said: "Did I not tell you: why do you not say: Insha' Allah (If Allah will)." 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33