The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 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 any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 32 SUCH is the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it! 33