The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And verily, you (O Muhammad SAW) are on an exalted standard of character. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 (Habitually) hindering (all) good, transgressing beyond bounds, deep in sin, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)? 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33