The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And verily, you (O Muhammad SAW) are on an exalted standard of character. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 16 Verily We have tried them as We tried the People of the Garden, when they resolved to gather the fruits of the (garden) in the morning. 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 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, truly we were insolent' 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33