The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 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 yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 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 tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden 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 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33