The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 2 Indeed, there is an unfailing wage for you. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33