سورة Al-Qalam ( The Pen )

Nun. By the Pen and what they write:

by your Lord’s blessing, you are not, crazy,

and yours indeed will be an everlasting reward,

and indeed you possess a great character.

You will see and they will see,

which one of you is crazy.

Indeed your Lord knows best those who stray from His way, and He knows best those who are guided.

So do not obey the deniers,

who are eager that you should be flexible, so that they [too] may be flexible [towards you].

And do not obey any vile swearer,

scandal-monger, talebearer,

hinderer of all good, sinful transgressor,

callous and, on top of that, baseborn

—[who behaves in such a manner only] because he has wealth and children.

When Our signs are recited to him, he says, ‘Myths of the ancients!’

Soon We shall brand him on his snout.

Indeed we have tested them just as We tested the People of the Garden when they vowed they would gather its fruit at dawn,

and they did not make any exception.

Then, a visitation from your Lord visited it while they were asleep.

So, by dawn it was like a harvested field.

At dawn they called out to one another,

‘Get off early to your field if you have to gather [the fruits].’

So off they went, murmuring to one another:

‘Today no needy man shall come to you in it.’

And they set out at early morning, [considering themselves] able to deprive [the poor of its fruit].

But when they saw it, they said, ‘We have indeed lost our way!’

‘No, it is we who have been deprived!’

The most upright among them said, ‘Did I not tell you, ‘‘Why do you not glorify [Allah]?’’ ’

They said, ‘Immaculate is our Lord! We have indeed been wrongdoers!’

Then they turned to one another, blaming each other.

They said, ‘Woe to us! Indeed, we have been rebellious.

Maybe our Lord will give us a better one in its place. Indeed we earnestly beseech our Lord.’

Such was their punishment; and the punishment of the Hereafter is surely greater, had they known.

Indeed for the Godwary there will be gardens of bliss near their Lord.

Shall We treat those who submit [to Us] as [We treat] the guilty?

What is the matter with you? How do you judge!

Do you possess a scripture in which you read

that you shall have in it whatever you choose?

Do you have a pledge binding on Us until the Day of Resurrection, that you shall indeed have whatever you decide?

Ask them, which of them will aver [any of] that!

Do they have any ‘partners’ [that they claim for Allah]? Then let them produce their partners, if they are truthful.

The day when the catastrophe occurs and they are summoned to prostrate themselves, they will not be able [to do it].

With a humbled look [in their eyes], they will be overcast by abasement. Certainly, they were summoned to prostrate themselves while they were yet sound.

So leave Me with those who deny this discourse. We will draw them imperceptibly [into ruin], whence they do not know.

I will grant them respite, for My devising is indeed sure.

Do you ask them for a reward, so that they are weighed down with debt?

Do they possess [access to] the Unseen, so that they write it down?

So submit patiently to the judgement of your Lord, and do not be like the Man of the Fish who called out as he choked with grief.

Had it not been for a blessing that came to his rescue from his Lord, he would surely have been cast on the bare shore, being blameworthy.

So his Lord chose him and made him one of the righteous.

Indeed the faithless almost devour you with their eyes when they hear this Reminder, and they say, ‘He is indeed crazy.’

Yet it is just a reminder for all the nations.