The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 just because he has wealth and sons, 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "Verily, we have gone astray," 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33