The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 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 yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Who hinders men from (doing) good, the transgressor, the iniquitous, 12 the crude of low character 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 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 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said, "Woe to us. We have been arrogant. 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33