The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 You are not insane, by the munificence of your Lord. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 Verily We! We have proved them even as We proved the fellows of a garden when they sware that they would surely reap it in the morning. 17 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33