The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 Indeed, there is an unfailing wage for you. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 (Habitually) hindering (all) good, transgressing beyond bounds, deep in sin, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 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 a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said, "Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 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 Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33