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 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Now We have tried them, even as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck in the morning 17 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 In the morning they called out to one another, 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they turned to each other reproaching. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 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 is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33