The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 you are not, because of the favor of your Lord, mad. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 the crude of low character 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 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 making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 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 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "Verily, we have gone astray," 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 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 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 Maybe our Lord will give us better than this. We turn to our Lord in supplication." 32 SUCH is the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it! 33