The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33