The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Who is distracted. 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 obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are ancient legends". 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 And they made not the exception. 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33