The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 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 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 And they made not the exception. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33