The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 you are not, because of the favor of your Lord, mad. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 So hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 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 if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33