The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 Soon shall We brand him on his 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 they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 They said, "Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. 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