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 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We shall brand him on his nose. 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "Verily, we have gone astray," 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; to our Lord we humbly turn.' 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33