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 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor, 12 the crude of low character 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us better than this. We turn to our Lord in supplication." 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33