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 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 So hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 without adding ("if God wills"). 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 And they called out to each other in the 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 needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said, "Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33