The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by that which they inscribe. 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Foul mouthed, and in addition to all this, of improper lineage. 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 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 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 – and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said: Glory be to our Lord, surely we were unjust. 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33