The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 2 Indeed, there is an unfailing wage for you. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 just 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 his nose. 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 And made no exception (for the Will of Allah); 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 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 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33