The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 Soon shall We brand him on his snout. 16 Lo! We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed that they would pluck its fruit next morning, 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 And they called one another at morning, 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33