The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most 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 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 One who excessively forbids the good, transgressor, sinner. 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 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 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 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 So they came towards each other, 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 Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33