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, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 (Habitually) hindering (all) good, transgressing beyond bounds, deep in sin, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 just because he has wealth and sons, 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 without adding ("if God wills"). 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)? 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 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