The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nun. CONSIDER the pen, and all that they write [therewith]! 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Surely thy Lord knows very well those who have gone astray from His way, and He knows very well those who are guided. 7 Therefore, do not obey those who belie, 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 Heed not the type of despicable men,- ready with oaths, 10 Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him on his nose. 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 32 Such is the punishment; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is the greatest, if only they knew! 33