The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 You shall see and they will see 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Verily your Lord knows those who have gone astray from His path, and He knows those who are guided on the way. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 Simply because he possesses wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 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 adding ("if God wills"). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "Verily, we have gone astray," 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said, "Woe to us. We have been arrogant. 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33