The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 Who is distracted. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 ill-mannered, and moraly corrupt 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33