The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 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 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33