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 the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you will see and they will see 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, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They said, "Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 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