The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 the crude of low character 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 We will soon singe his pig-nose. 16 Now We have tried them, even as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck in the morning 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33