The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33