The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 (Habitually) hindering (all) good, transgressing beyond bounds, deep in sin, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next morning, 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then they approached one another, blaming each other. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 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 punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33