The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says: 'They are but fairytales of the ancients' 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they went in the morning with strong intention, thinking that they have power (to prevent the poor taking anything of the fruits therefrom). 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)? 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33