The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are just ancient fables." 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 Without making exception. 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33