Surah The Pen [Al-Qalam] in English

Nun. By the pen, and all that they write!

By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man.

Most surely, you will have a never ending reward.

For you are truly of a sublime character.

Soon you will see, as will they,

which of you is a prey to madness.

Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path.

Do not give in to the deniers of truth.

They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate.

Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths,

or to any defamer or one who spreads slander,

or to one who places obstacles in the way of good being done or to the wicked transgressor,

who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born;

just because he has wealth and sons,

when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, \"These are just ancient fables.\"

Soon We will brand him on the nose.

We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning,

without saying, \"If it be God's will.\"

A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept.

And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land.

So they called out to each other at the break of dawn,

saying, \"Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits.\"

So they went off, whispering to one another,

\"Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today.\"

They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent.

But when they saw it, they said, \"We must have lost our way.

Indeed, we are utterly ruined!\"

The more upright of the two said, \"Did I not bid you to glorify God?\"

They said, \"Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong.\"

Then they began to heap reproaches on each other.

They said, \"Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale.

May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him.\"

Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it!

Those who are mindful of their Lord will be rewarded with gardens of bliss.

Should We treat the true believers and the wrongdoers alike?

What ails you? How ill you judge!

Have you a Scripture that tells you

that you will be granted whatever you choose?

Or do you have Our solemn oaths, binding upon Us till the Day of Resurrection, that you shall have whatever you yourselves decide?

Ask them, which of them will vouch for that!

Or have they other partners [besides God]? Let them bring forth their other partners, if what they say be true.

On the Day when the truth shall be laid bare, they will be called upon to prostrate themselves, but they will not be able to do so.

Their eyes will be cast down and they will be covered in shame; they were bidden to prostrate themselves, when they were safe and sound [but they did not obey].

So leave to Me those who reject this message. We shall lead them step by step to their ruin, in ways beyond their ken.

I shall grant them some respite, for My plan is powerful.

Do you demand some recompense from them that would weigh them down with debt?

Is the unseen within their grasp so that they write it down?

Wait patiently for your Lord's judgement; do not be like the man who, having been swallowed by a whale, called out in distress.

Had his Lord's grace not been bestowed upon him, he would have been cast away in disgrace upon that desolate shore.

But his Lord chose him for His own and made him one of the righteous.

When those who deny the truth hear the admonition, they would almost cause you to stumble with their evil eyes; and they say, \"He is certainly mad.\"