The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 Soon wilt thou 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 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 without adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; to our Lord we humbly turn.' 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33