The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 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 And they made not the exception. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 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. We have surely done wrong." 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33