The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor, 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him on his nose. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 Without making exception. 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know. 33