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, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Maybe our Lord will give us better than this. We turn to our Lord in supplication." 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33