The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 One who excessively forbids the good, transgressor, sinner. 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 just because he has wealth and sons, 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33