The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ NUN. I CALL to witness the pen and what they inscribe, 1 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 So hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 One who excessively forbids the good, transgressor, sinner. 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 And they went in the morning with strong intention, thinking that they have power (to prevent the poor taking anything of the fruits therefrom). 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 “In fact, we are unfortunate.” 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; to our Lord we humbly turn.' 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33