The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 Who is distracted. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders, 11 Who hinders men from (doing) good, the transgressor, the iniquitous, 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33