The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 "Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you [unawares,]" 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33