The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and by what you write, 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will 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 you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 or to any defamer or one who spreads slander, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 Without making exception. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 They left early in the morning bent on this purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew! 33