The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 Now We have tried them, even as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck in the morning 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33