{
  "number": 68,
  "slug": "qalam",
  "name": "Al-Qalam",
  "arabicName": "القلم",
  "meaning": "The Pen",
  "period": "Makkan",
  "juz": 29,
  "tagline": "CHARACTER, A RUINED GARDEN & PATIENT HOPE",
  "overview": "The pen and the messenger’s character open a chapter that confronts slander and moral compromise. Owners of a garden discover the cost of excluding the needy, while questions about judgment and the memory of Jonah lead back to patience and a reminder for all creation.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Arabic text · quranjson (MIT)",
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/semarketir/quranjson/master/source/surah/surah_68.json"
    },
    {
      "title": "Sahih International · English translation (AlQuran Cloud)",
      "url": "https://alquran.cloud/quran/en.sahih"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=1"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=44"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=48"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=51"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=7"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=13"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=17"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=23"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=28"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=32"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=36"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=39"
    },
    {
      "title": "Word glosses · Quranic Arabic Corpus (GPL-3.0)",
      "url": "https://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=68&verse=42"
    },
    {
      "title": "Surah introduction · Quran.com",
      "url": "https://quran.com/al-qalam/info"
    },
    {
      "title": "Aisha on the Prophet’s character · Muslim 746a",
      "url": "https://sunnah.com/muslim:746a"
    },
    {
      "title": "The Man of the Fish · Ma’arif al-Qur’an",
      "url": "https://quran.com/al-qalam/48/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran"
    },
    {
      "title": "Jonah and the shore · Quran 37:139–148",
      "url": "https://quran.com/as-saffat/139"
    },
    {
      "title": "Judgment and deferred consequence · Ibn Kathir",
      "url": "https://quran.com/al-qalam/42/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir"
    },
    {
      "title": "622 CE Hijrah boundary · Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
      "url": "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Hejira"
    }
  ],
  "verses": [
    {
      "n": 1,
      "arabic": "نٓ ۚ وَٱلْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ",
      "translation": "Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe,"
    },
    {
      "n": 2,
      "arabic": "مَآ أَنتَ بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍۢ",
      "translation": "You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman."
    },
    {
      "n": 3,
      "arabic": "وَإِنَّ لَكَ لَأَجْرًا غَيْرَ مَمْنُونٍۢ",
      "translation": "And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted."
    },
    {
      "n": 4,
      "arabic": "وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍۢ",
      "translation": "And indeed, you are of a great moral character."
    },
    {
      "n": 5,
      "arabic": "فَسَتُبْصِرُ وَيُبْصِرُونَ",
      "translation": "So you will see and they will see"
    },
    {
      "n": 6,
      "arabic": "بِأَييِّكُمُ ٱلْمَفْتُونُ",
      "translation": "Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]."
    },
    {
      "n": 7,
      "arabic": "إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِٱلْمُهْتَدِينَ",
      "translation": "Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided."
    },
    {
      "n": 8,
      "arabic": "فَلَا تُطِعِ ٱلْمُكَذِّبِينَ",
      "translation": "Then do not obey the deniers."
    },
    {
      "n": 9,
      "arabic": "وَدُّوا۟ لَوْ تُدْهِنُ فَيُدْهِنُونَ",
      "translation": "They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]."
    },
    {
      "n": 10,
      "arabic": "وَلَا تُطِعْ كُلَّ حَلَّافٍۢ مَّهِينٍ",
      "translation": "And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer"
    },
    {
      "n": 11,
      "arabic": "هَمَّازٍۢ مَّشَّآءٍۭ بِنَمِيمٍۢ",
      "translation": "[And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip -"
    },
    {
      "n": 12,
      "arabic": "مَّنَّاعٍۢ لِّلْخَيْرِ مُعْتَدٍ أَثِيمٍ",
      "translation": "A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful,"
    },
    {
      "n": 13,
      "arabic": "عُتُلٍّۭ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ زَنِيمٍ",
      "translation": "Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender."
    },
    {
      "n": 14,
      "arabic": "أَن كَانَ ذَا مَالٍۢ وَبَنِينَ",
      "translation": "Because he is a possessor of wealth and children,"
    },
    {
      "n": 15,
      "arabic": "إِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِ ءَايَٰتُنَا قَالَ أَسَٰطِيرُ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ",
      "translation": "When Our verses are recited to him, he says, \"Legends of the former peoples.\""
    },
    {
      "n": 16,
      "arabic": "سَنَسِمُهُۥ عَلَى ٱلْخُرْطُومِ",
      "translation": "We will brand him upon the snout."
    },
    {
      "n": 17,
      "arabic": "إِنَّا بَلَوْنَٰهُمْ كَمَا بَلَوْنَآ أَصْحَٰبَ ٱلْجَنَّةِ إِذْ أَقْسَمُوا۟ لَيَصْرِمُنَّهَا مُصْبِحِينَ",
      "translation": "Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning"
    },
    {
      "n": 18,
      "arabic": "وَلَا يَسْتَثْنُونَ",
      "translation": "Without making exception."
    },
    {
      "n": 19,
      "arabic": "فَطَافَ عَلَيْهَا طَآئِفٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكَ وَهُمْ نَآئِمُونَ",
      "translation": "So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep."
    },
    {
      "n": 20,
      "arabic": "فَأَصْبَحَتْ كَٱلصَّرِيمِ",
      "translation": "And it became as though reaped."
    },
    {
      "n": 21,
      "arabic": "فَتَنَادَوْا۟ مُصْبِحِينَ",
      "translation": "And they called one another at morning,"
    },
    {
      "n": 22,
      "arabic": "أَنِ ٱغْدُوا۟ عَلَىٰ حَرْثِكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰرِمِينَ",
      "translation": "[Saying], \"Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit.\""
    },
    {
      "n": 23,
      "arabic": "فَٱنطَلَقُوا۟ وَهُمْ يَتَخَٰفَتُونَ",
      "translation": "So they set out, while lowering their voices,"
    },
    {
      "n": 24,
      "arabic": "أَن لَّا يَدْخُلَنَّهَا ٱلْيَوْمَ عَلَيْكُم مِّسْكِينٌۭ",
      "translation": "[Saying], \"There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person.\""
    },
    {
      "n": 25,
      "arabic": "وَغَدَوْا۟ عَلَىٰ حَرْدٍۢ قَٰدِرِينَ",
      "translation": "And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able."
    },
    {
      "n": 26,
      "arabic": "فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهَا قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا لَضَآلُّونَ",
      "translation": "But when they saw it, they said, \"Indeed, we are lost;"
    },
    {
      "n": 27,
      "arabic": "بَلْ نَحْنُ مَحْرُومُونَ",
      "translation": "Rather, we have been deprived.\""
    },
    {
      "n": 28,
      "arabic": "قَالَ أَوْسَطُهُمْ أَلَمْ أَقُل لَّكُمْ لَوْلَا تُسَبِّحُونَ",
      "translation": "The most moderate of them said, \"Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' \""
    },
    {
      "n": 29,
      "arabic": "قَالُوا۟ سُبْحَٰنَ رَبِّنَآ إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَٰلِمِينَ",
      "translation": "They said, \"Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers.\""
    },
    {
      "n": 30,
      "arabic": "فَأَقْبَلَ بَعْضُهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍۢ يَتَلَٰوَمُونَ",
      "translation": "Then they approached one another, blaming each other."
    },
    {
      "n": 31,
      "arabic": "قَالُوا۟ يَٰوَيْلَنَآ إِنَّا كُنَّا طَٰغِينَ",
      "translation": "They said, \"O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors."
    },
    {
      "n": 32,
      "arabic": "عَسَىٰ رَبُّنَآ أَن يُبْدِلَنَا خَيْرًۭا مِّنْهَآ إِنَّآ إِلَىٰ رَبِّنَا رَٰغِبُونَ",
      "translation": "Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous.\""
    },
    {
      "n": 33,
      "arabic": "كَذَٰلِكَ ٱلْعَذَابُ ۖ وَلَعَذَابُ ٱلْءَاخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْلَمُونَ",
      "translation": "Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew."
    },
    {
      "n": 34,
      "arabic": "إِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّٰتِ ٱلنَّعِيمِ",
      "translation": "Indeed, for the righteous with their Lord are the Gardens of Pleasure."
    },
    {
      "n": 35,
      "arabic": "أَفَنَجْعَلُ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ كَٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ",
      "translation": "Then will We treat the Muslims like the criminals?"
    },
    {
      "n": 36,
      "arabic": "مَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ",
      "translation": "What is [the matter] with you? How do you judge?"
    },
    {
      "n": 37,
      "arabic": "أَمْ لَكُمْ كِتَٰبٌۭ فِيهِ تَدْرُسُونَ",
      "translation": "Or do you have a scripture in which you learn"
    },
    {
      "n": 38,
      "arabic": "إِنَّ لَكُمْ فِيهِ لَمَا تَخَيَّرُونَ",
      "translation": "That indeed for you is whatever you choose?"
    },
    {
      "n": 39,
      "arabic": "أَمْ لَكُمْ أَيْمَٰنٌ عَلَيْنَا بَٰلِغَةٌ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ ۙ إِنَّ لَكُمْ لَمَا تَحْكُمُونَ",
      "translation": "Or do you have oaths [binding] upon Us, extending until the Day of Resurrection, that indeed for you is whatever you judge?"
    },
    {
      "n": 40,
      "arabic": "سَلْهُمْ أَيُّهُم بِذَٰلِكَ زَعِيمٌ",
      "translation": "Ask them which of them, for that [claim], is responsible."
    },
    {
      "n": 41,
      "arabic": "أَمْ لَهُمْ شُرَكَآءُ فَلْيَأْتُوا۟ بِشُرَكَآئِهِمْ إِن كَانُوا۟ صَٰدِقِينَ",
      "translation": "Or do they have partners? Then let them bring their partners, if they should be truthful."
    },
    {
      "n": 42,
      "arabic": "يَوْمَ يُكْشَفُ عَن سَاقٍۢ وَيُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى ٱلسُّجُودِ فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ",
      "translation": "The Day the shin will be uncovered and they are invited to prostration but the disbelievers will not be able,"
    },
    {
      "n": 43,
      "arabic": "خَٰشِعَةً أَبْصَٰرُهُمْ تَرْهَقُهُمْ ذِلَّةٌۭ ۖ وَقَدْ كَانُوا۟ يُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى ٱلسُّجُودِ وَهُمْ سَٰلِمُونَ",
      "translation": "Their eyes humbled, humiliation will cover them. And they used to be invited to prostration while they were sound."
    },
    {
      "n": 44,
      "arabic": "فَذَرْنِى وَمَن يُكَذِّبُ بِهَٰذَا ٱلْحَدِيثِ ۖ سَنَسْتَدْرِجُهُم مِّنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ",
      "translation": "So leave Me, [O Muhammad], with [the matter of] whoever denies the Qur'an. We will progressively lead them [to punishment] from where they do not know."
    },
    {
      "n": 45,
      "arabic": "وَأُمْلِى لَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ كَيْدِى مَتِينٌ",
      "translation": "And I will give them time. Indeed, My plan is firm."
    },
    {
      "n": 46,
      "arabic": "أَمْ تَسْـَٔلُهُمْ أَجْرًۭا فَهُم مِّن مَّغْرَمٍۢ مُّثْقَلُونَ",
      "translation": "Or do you ask of them a payment, so they are by debt burdened down?"
    },
    {
      "n": 47,
      "arabic": "أَمْ عِندَهُمُ ٱلْغَيْبُ فَهُمْ يَكْتُبُونَ",
      "translation": "Or have they [knowledge of] the unseen, so they write [it] down?"
    },
    {
      "n": 48,
      "arabic": "فَٱصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ وَلَا تَكُن كَصَاحِبِ ٱلْحُوتِ إِذْ نَادَىٰ وَهُوَ مَكْظُومٌۭ",
      "translation": "Then be patient for the decision of your Lord, [O Muhammad], and be not like the companion of the fish when he called out while he was distressed."
    },
    {
      "n": 49,
      "arabic": "لَّوْلَآ أَن تَدَٰرَكَهُۥ نِعْمَةٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّهِۦ لَنُبِذَ بِٱلْعَرَآءِ وَهُوَ مَذْمُومٌۭ",
      "translation": "If not that a favor from his Lord overtook him, he would have been thrown onto the naked shore while he was censured."
    },
    {
      "n": 50,
      "arabic": "فَٱجْتَبَٰهُ رَبُّهُۥ فَجَعَلَهُۥ مِنَ ٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ",
      "translation": "And his Lord chose him and made him of the righteous."
    },
    {
      "n": 51,
      "arabic": "وَإِن يَكَادُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَٰرِهِمْ لَمَّا سَمِعُوا۟ ٱلذِّكْرَ وَيَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُۥ لَمَجْنُونٌۭ",
      "translation": "And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their eyes when they hear the message, and they say, \"Indeed, he is mad.\""
    },
    {
      "n": 52,
      "arabic": "وَمَا هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرٌۭ لِّلْعَٰلَمِينَ",
      "translation": "But it is not except a reminder to the worlds."
    }
  ],
  "glosses": [
    [
      "Nun.",
      "By the pen",
      "and what",
      "they write,"
    ],
    [
      "Not",
      "you (are),",
      "by (the) Grace",
      "(of) your Lord,",
      "a madman."
    ],
    [
      "And indeed,",
      "for you",
      "surely (is) a reward",
      "without",
      "end."
    ],
    [
      "And indeed, you",
      "surely (are)",
      "(of) a moral character",
      "great."
    ],
    [
      "So you will see",
      "and they will see,"
    ],
    [
      "Which of you",
      "(is) the afflicted one."
    ],
    [
      "Indeed,",
      "your Lord,",
      "He",
      "(is) most knowing",
      "of (he) who",
      "has strayed",
      "from",
      "His way,",
      "and He",
      "(is) most knowing",
      "of the guided ones."
    ],
    [
      "So (do) not",
      "obey",
      "the deniers."
    ],
    [
      "They wish",
      "that",
      "you should compromise,",
      "so they would compromise."
    ],
    [
      "And (do) not",
      "obey",
      "every",
      "habitual swearer",
      "worthless,"
    ],
    [
      "Defamer",
      "going about",
      "with malicious gossip,"
    ],
    [
      "A preventer,",
      "of (the) good,",
      "transgressor,",
      "sinful,"
    ],
    [
      "Cruel,",
      "after",
      "(all) that",
      "utterly useless."
    ],
    [
      "Because",
      "(he) is",
      "a possessor",
      "(of) wealth",
      "and children,"
    ],
    [
      "When",
      "are recited",
      "to him",
      "Our Verses,",
      "he says,",
      "\"Stories",
      "(of) the former (people).\""
    ],
    [
      "We will brand him",
      "on",
      "the snout."
    ],
    [
      "Indeed, We",
      "have tried them",
      "as",
      "We tried",
      "(the) companions",
      "(of) the garden,",
      "when",
      "they swore",
      "to pluck its fruit",
      "(in the) morning,"
    ],
    [
      "And not",
      "making exception."
    ],
    [
      "So there came",
      "upon it",
      "a visitation",
      "from",
      "your Lord,",
      "while they",
      "were asleep."
    ],
    [
      "So it became",
      "as if reaped."
    ],
    [
      "And they called one another",
      "(at) morning,"
    ],
    [
      "That",
      "\"Go early",
      "to",
      "your crop",
      "if",
      "you would",
      "pluck (the) fruit.\""
    ],
    [
      "So they went,",
      "while they",
      "lowered (their) voices,"
    ],
    [
      "That",
      "\"Not",
      "will enter it",
      "today",
      "upon you",
      "any poor person.\""
    ],
    [
      "And they went early",
      "with",
      "determination",
      "able."
    ],
    [
      "But when",
      "they saw it,",
      "they said,",
      "\"Indeed, we",
      "(are) surely lost."
    ],
    [
      "Nay!",
      "We",
      "(are) deprived.\""
    ],
    [
      "Said",
      "(the) most moderate of them,",
      "\"Did not",
      "I tell",
      "you,",
      "'Why not",
      "you glorify (Allah)?'\""
    ],
    [
      "They said,",
      "\"Glory be",
      "(to) our Lord!",
      "Indeed, we",
      "[we] were",
      "wrongdoers.\""
    ],
    [
      "Then approached,",
      "some of them",
      "to",
      "others",
      "blaming each other."
    ],
    [
      "They said,",
      "\"O woe to us!",
      "Indeed, we",
      "[we] were",
      "transgressors."
    ],
    [
      "Perhaps,",
      "our Lord,",
      "[that]",
      "will substitute for us",
      "a better",
      "than it.",
      "Indeed, we",
      "to",
      "our Lord",
      "turn devoutly.\""
    ],
    [
      "Such",
      "(is) the punishment.",
      "And surely the punishment",
      "(of) the Hereafter",
      "(is) greater,",
      "if",
      "they",
      "know."
    ],
    [
      "Indeed,",
      "for the righteous",
      "with",
      "their Lord",
      "(are) Gardens",
      "(of) Delight."
    ],
    [
      "Then will We treat",
      "the Muslims",
      "like the criminals?"
    ],
    [
      "What",
      "(is) for you?",
      "How",
      "(do) you judge?"
    ],
    [
      "Or",
      "(is) for you",
      "a book",
      "wherein",
      "you learn,"
    ],
    [
      "Indeed",
      "for you",
      "in it",
      "what",
      "you choose?"
    ],
    [
      "Or",
      "for you",
      "oaths",
      "from us,",
      "reaching",
      "to",
      "(the) Day",
      "(of) the Resurrection,",
      "indeed,",
      "for you",
      "(is) what",
      "you judge?"
    ],
    [
      "Ask them,",
      "which of them",
      "for that",
      "(is) responsible."
    ],
    [
      "Or",
      "(are) for them",
      "partners?",
      "Then let them bring",
      "their partners,",
      "if",
      "they are",
      "truthful."
    ],
    [
      "(The) Day",
      "will be uncovered",
      "from",
      "the shin",
      "and they will be called",
      "to",
      "prostrate,",
      "but not",
      "they will be able,"
    ],
    [
      "Humbled,",
      "their eyes,",
      "will cover them",
      "humiliation.",
      "And indeed,",
      "they were",
      "called",
      "to",
      "prostrate",
      "while they",
      "(were) sound."
    ],
    [
      "So leave Me",
      "and whoever",
      "denies",
      "this",
      "Statement,",
      "We will progressively lead them",
      "from",
      "where",
      "not",
      "they know."
    ],
    [
      "And I will give respite",
      "to them.",
      "Indeed,",
      "My plan",
      "(is) firm."
    ],
    [
      "Or",
      "you ask them",
      "a payment,",
      "so they",
      "from",
      "(the) debt",
      "(are) burdened?"
    ],
    [
      "Or",
      "(is) with them",
      "the unseen,",
      "so they",
      "write it?"
    ],
    [
      "So be patient",
      "for (the) decision",
      "(of) your Lord,",
      "and (do) not",
      "be",
      "like (the) companion",
      "(of) the fish,",
      "when",
      "he called out,",
      "while he",
      "(was) distressed."
    ],
    [
      "If not",
      "that",
      "overtook him",
      "a Favor",
      "from",
      "his Lord,",
      "surely he would have been thrown",
      "onto (the) naked shore",
      "while he",
      "(was) blamed."
    ],
    [
      "But chose him,",
      "his Lord,",
      "and made him",
      "of",
      "the righteous."
    ],
    [
      "And indeed,",
      "would almost",
      "those who",
      "disbelieve,",
      "surely make you slip",
      "with their look",
      "when",
      "they hear",
      "the Message,",
      "and they say,",
      "\"Indeed, he",
      "(is) surely mad.\""
    ],
    [
      "And not",
      "it (is)",
      "but",
      "a Reminder",
      "to the worlds."
    ]
  ],
  "titles": [
    "Nun, the pen, and what is written",
    "The accusation is rejected",
    "A reward that does not cease",
    "An immense quality of character",
    "The truth will become apparent",
    "An accusation turned back",
    "The One who knows the paths",
    "Do not follow the rejecters",
    "The offer of compromise",
    "Oaths without trustworthy conduct",
    "Slander carried from person to person",
    "Obstructing what is good",
    "A harsh portrait of wrongdoing",
    "Influence through wealth and children",
    "Dismissing revelation as old stories",
    "An exposed mark of disgrace",
    "The garden owners make a plan",
    "No exception is made",
    "A visitation during sleep",
    "A garden stripped of its harvest",
    "An early call to one another",
    "Hurrying toward the field",
    "Whispering on the way",
    "The plan to exclude the needy",
    "Confidence in their purpose",
    "A sight they do not recognize",
    "The truth of their loss",
    "The wiser voice among them",
    "Admitting wrongdoing",
    "Mutual reproach",
    "Naming their own transgression",
    "Hope for something better",
    "A warning beyond this loss",
    "Gardens of delight for the mindful",
    "Can different conduct be treated alike?",
    "The basis of their judgment questioned",
    "A demand for scriptural evidence",
    "An entitlement to every choice?",
    "A claimed guarantee put to the test",
    "Who will stand behind the claim?",
    "Where are the supposed partners?",
    "A Day of grave disclosure",
    "The missed opportunity to respond",
    "A consequence approaching unseen",
    "Respite does not mean neglect",
    "No fee demanded for the message",
    "No private possession of the unseen",
    "Patience and the Man of the Fish",
    "Favor within a conditional warning",
    "Chosen and counted among the righteous",
    "Hostility toward the Reminder",
    "A reminder for all creation"
  ],
  "notes": [
    "The chapter opens with the isolated letter Nun and an oath by the pen and writing. This edition does not assign a settled decoding to the letter. The pen introduces the seriousness of what is recorded and conveyed.",
    "The accusation against the messenger is rejected through reference to his Lord’s favor. The verse responds to hostile language used in the dispute. It is not a diagnosis of a present-day person or a judgment against mental illness.",
    "An unfailing reward is promised amid the opposition just described. The reassurance separates enduring worth from immediate public approval. The following verse turns attention to character as a central feature of the messenger’s life.",
    "The messenger’s character is praised in emphatic terms. Aisha’s report in Muslim 746a connects his character with the Quran. The pairing directs attention to lived conduct rather than an imagined physical portrait.",
    "The messenger and his opponents will both see what becomes clear. The brief promise places present accusations within a larger unfolding account. It does not supply a date or identify a particular immediate public event.",
    "The hostile accusation is turned back toward those making it. Read with the preceding verse, the line promises that the dispute will be clarified. The language belongs to this confrontation, rather than a method for labeling people today.",
    "Knowledge of those who stray and those rightly guided belongs most fully to the Lord. The verse limits human certainty about another person’s ultimate standing. It also prepares the instruction not to follow the opponents’ pressure.",
    "The messenger is told not to follow those rejecting the message. The instruction concerns fidelity within this particular confrontation. The next verse explains the sort of reciprocal compromise being sought from him.",
    "The opponents hope for a concession that they can answer with one of their own. The verse challenges bargaining over the message’s integrity. It does not suggest that every ordinary negotiation or peaceful agreement is improper.",
    "Repeated oaths are set beside a contemptible pattern of behavior. Words invoking certainty cannot replace trustworthy conduct. The following verses describe the social harms by which the person’s claims should be assessed.",
    "Slander and the carrying of harmful reports are named. These actions damage relationships by moving accusation from one person to another. The portrait makes speech a matter of responsibility rather than a harmless exercise of influence.",
    "Obstructing good, crossing limits, and doing wrong continue the description. The accumulation emphasizes a pattern rather than a single isolated mistake. The reader is directed to what influence actually does within a community.",
    "The harsh portrait continues with qualities rendered by Pickthall as greedy and intrusive. The verse belongs to a sequence of condemnable conduct. This reader does not attach the description to an unsourced personal identity or ancestry.",
    "Wealth and children explain a source of the person’s confidence and public standing. Their presence does not validate the conduct already described. The next verse shows that influence being used to dismiss revelation.",
    "The revelations are brushed aside as inherited tales. The dismissal avoids engaging with their claim on present conduct. In the sequence, material confidence and destructive speech combine with refusal to receive a reminder.",
    "A mark of disgrace is announced in forceful language. The warning overturns the figure’s assumed dignity and status. It is a statement of divine judgment, not permission for people to brand or injure an opponent.",
    "The story shifts to owners who plan to harvest their garden the next morning. Their test parallels the chapter’s concern with self-sufficient confidence. The Quran does not name the owners, their settlement, or the year.",
    "The owners make no exception in their resolve; Pickthall explains this with a parenthetical reference to Allah’s will. The line exposes the certainty of their plan. Later verses reveal their intention to keep the needy away.",
    "While the owners sleep, a visitation comes upon the garden. The verse does not specify a modern physical cause that can be reconstructed. The contrast is between their confident plan and an event outside their control.",
    "Morning reveals the garden as stripped of its produce. The expected harvest is already lost. The text’s comparison is more important than assigning an exact kind of fire, blight, or weather event to the scene.",
    "The owners call one another early, still acting on the previous plan. The reader knows what they have not yet seen. This difference creates the tension between their confidence and the discovery awaiting them.",
    "The call urges a quick departure to the field for harvest. It sounds like ordinary cooperation until the next lines disclose its purpose. The narrative lets the intention emerge through the owners’ own speech.",
    "They move together while speaking quietly. The lowered voices prepare the disclosure of an exclusionary plan. The detail shows a shared intention being protected from the people who would be affected by it.",
    "The plan is explicit: no needy person is to enter that day. The harvest is being treated as a possession from which others must be kept away. This statement gives the garden’s loss its moral setting.",
    "They leave early, confident in their purpose and ability. The certainty follows immediately after their plan to exclude others. The story is about to expose how little control that apparent strength actually gives them.",
    "At first sight of the ruined garden, they think they may have taken the wrong way. The response conveys how completely the scene differs from expectation. Recognition has not yet reached the moral meaning of their loss.",
    "The explanation changes from being lost to being deprived. They now recognize that this is their own garden and that its harvest is gone. The narrative moves from confused observation toward acknowledgment.",
    "A wiser voice reminds the group of an earlier call to glorify Allah. The person is not given a name or separate biography. The intervention opens a way from shared failure toward a more truthful response.",
    "The owners glorify their Lord and admit that they have done wrong. Their speech has changed from exclusion to acknowledgment. The verse presents repentance as a possible response after the failure of a confident plan.",
    "Mutual reproach follows the admission. Each participant now confronts the others’ role in the shared decision. The scene also invites the reader to distinguish blame passed around a group from responsibility each person accepts.",
    "The owners name their own transgression in a collective lament. Their earlier confidence has given way to moral recognition. The next verse will move beyond regret toward hope and dependence on their Lord.",
    "They hope for something better and turn their desire toward their Lord. The verse records that hope without announcing a specific replacement harvest. Repentance here includes an altered direction of dependence, not merely a wish to recover property.",
    "The garden’s loss becomes a warning pointing beyond itself. The punishment of the hereafter is described as greater. This does not authorize explaining every failed crop or business loss as the same judgment on its owners.",
    "Gardens of delight are promised to those who guard against wrongdoing. The image deliberately follows a garden lost through exclusion. The contrast links future welcome with a different way of responding to responsibility.",
    "The question challenges treating those who submit and those guilty of wrongdoing as morally equivalent. It introduces an argument about justice. The following questions ask what basis the opponents have for their confident claims.",
    "The audience’s way of judging is questioned directly. The line calls for an account of the assumptions behind their conclusions. It prepares a sequence testing evidence, guarantees, and supposed sources of authority.",
    "A scripture supporting the claimed entitlement is demanded. The question asks whether assertion has any revealed basis. The point is not the possession of a written object alone, but whether it actually supports the conclusion.",
    "The supposed right to receive whatever one chooses is challenged. Desire cannot by itself establish a promise. Read with the previous verse, the question exposes the distance between an attractive claim and evidence for it.",
    "The imagined guarantee is tested again, this time as a binding covenant lasting to judgment. The verse asks whether such an assurance exists. It does not grant the audience the entitlement being examined.",
    "The messenger is told to ask who will vouch for the claim. Responsibility for an assertion can no longer remain hidden within a crowd. The brief question makes unsupported confidence answerable to scrutiny.",
    "The audience is challenged to produce the partners on whom its claims rely. The demand continues the argument about authority and evidence. The verse offers no visual description of divine reality or supposed partners.",
    "The Day is described with an Arabic expression involving a shin being uncovered; Pickthall renders the phrase idiomatically. Commentary connects it with judgment. The theological language remains textual, without a bodily or divine illustration.",
    "Downcast eyes and abasement accompany the inability to prostrate. The verse recalls an earlier opportunity to respond while able. The narrative concerns a particular refusal within judgment, not the worth of people with physical disabilities.",
    "The messenger is told to leave those denying the message to Allah. Consequence may approach in ways they do not recognize. The statement relocates the final judgment beyond personal retaliation or control.",
    "Respite is affirmed alongside a firm plan. Delay therefore should not be mistaken for the absence of accountability. The verse does not provide a timetable by which a reader can predict another person’s punishment.",
    "The question rejects the suggestion that a burdensome payment explains the audience’s refusal. The messenger’s call is not presented as a fee imposed upon them. The discussion returns to the grounds for rejecting the message.",
    "The opponents do not possess the unseen as something they can write down authoritatively. The question challenges unsupported certainty about hidden outcomes. It belongs with the preceding demands for evidence rather than speculation.",
    "The messenger is called to patience through the memory of the Man of the Fish. Ma’arif al-Qur’an identifies him as Jonah. His distress is recalled without a portrait, an exact location, or an asserted calendar year.",
    "The sentence is conditional: without favor from his Lord, the outcome would have been blameworthy abandonment. It should not be detached from that condition. The next verse states the actual conclusion in terms of choice and righteousness.",
    "His Lord chooses him and places him among the righteous. This resolves the preceding conditional warning with favor. The reminder of Jonah thus supports patient hope rather than leaving the earlier prophet defined only by distress.",
    "Hostile looks and an accusation meet the hearing of the Reminder. The chapter returns to the opposition described at its opening. The reading does not use this scene to diagnose ordinary discomfort or another person’s intentions today.",
    "The final line describes the message as a reminder for creation. Its reach exceeds the immediate dispute and its accusations. After character, the garden, and patience, the chapter closes by widening the audience invited to respond."
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "start": 1,
      "end": 16,
      "title": "The pen and the measure of character",
      "summary": "The messenger’s character is affirmed while pressure, slander, and the misuse of influence are challenged.",
      "reflection": "Which habits of speech show whether influence is being used responsibly?"
    },
    {
      "start": 17,
      "end": 33,
      "title": "The garden they meant to keep for themselves",
      "summary": "A plan to exclude the needy meets a ruined harvest, mutual reproach, acknowledgment, and renewed hope.",
      "reflection": "Where might an intention to protect your share become a refusal to recognize another person’s need?"
    },
    {
      "start": 34,
      "end": 47,
      "title": "Justice and the evidence behind a claim",
      "summary": "A sequence of questions tests imagined entitlement, supposed guarantees, and claims to know the unseen.",
      "reflection": "What evidence supports a confident assumption you have made about a future outcome?"
    },
    {
      "start": 48,
      "end": 52,
      "title": "Patience, the Man of the Fish, and a universal reminder",
      "summary": "Jonah’s remembered distress and divine favor reinforce patience as the surah returns to the scope of the Reminder.",
      "reflection": "How can a moment of regret become a reason for patient hope?"
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "title": "The garden owners · an undated account",
      "year": null,
      "body": "The narrative gives an overnight loss and a morning discovery, but no owners’ names, settlement, or calendar year. Its sequence can be followed without inventing an ancient date.",
      "source": "https://original.sacred-texts.com/isl/pick/068.htm"
    },
    {
      "title": "Jonah remembered · no absolute year supplied",
      "year": null,
      "body": "The Man of the Fish in verses 48–50 is identified as Jonah in commentary. The reminder does not supply dates or place him in a precisely numbered prophetic chronology.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-qalam/48/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran"
    },
    {
      "title": "Before 622 CE · Makkan classification",
      "year": 622,
      "body": "Al-Qalam is classified as Makkan. The year marks the Hijrah boundary, verified in the historical reference, rather than an exact revelation date or a settled order among the earliest surahs.",
      "source": "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Hejira"
    },
    {
      "title": "The Day of Judgment · promise without a date",
      "year": null,
      "body": "The questions about guarantees culminate in a scene of judgment. No countdown or earthly date is disclosed in the surah.",
      "source": "https://original.sacred-texts.com/isl/pick/068.htm"
    }
  ],
  "places": [
    {
      "id": "makkah",
      "name": "Makkah · the setting of opposition and address",
      "body": "The chapter’s Makkan classification provides the broad historical setting. The illustrated writing space is thematic and does not claim to show a verified house or the original place of revelation.",
      "lat": 21.4225,
      "lon": 39.8262,
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-qalam/info",
      "image": 0
    },
    {
      "id": "garden",
      "name": "The unnamed garden",
      "body": "The Quran describes owners, a planned harvest, the exclusion of the needy, and a devastated garden. It gives no settlement name; this reconstruction is not a claim about a surviving orchard or ruin.",
      "source": "https://original.sacred-texts.com/isl/pick/068.htm",
      "image": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "shore",
      "name": "The shore in Jonah’s wider Quranic story",
      "body": "Quran 37:139–148 includes the ship, fish, and open shore in Jonah’s account. Al-Qalam recalls the Man of the Fish briefly. The shore here is illustrative and has no asserted modern coordinates.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/as-saffat/139",
      "image": 3
    }
  ],
  "people": [
    {
      "id": "muhammad",
      "title": "Muhammad · character under pressure",
      "body": "The chapter affirms his character and calls him to patience amid accusations and compromise. His role is presented through the Quran’s address, with no prophet portrait.",
      "verse": 4
    },
    {
      "id": "garden-owners",
      "title": "The owners of the garden · unnamed",
      "body": "They plan to exclude the needy, discover their loss, and admit wrongdoing. Their story supplies no personal names, genealogy, verified estate, or grave.",
      "verse": 17
    },
    {
      "id": "wiser-voice",
      "title": "The wiser voice among the owners",
      "body": "One member recalls an earlier call to glorify Allah and helps turn the group toward acknowledgment. The verse does not name this person or provide a separate life story.",
      "verse": 28
    },
    {
      "id": "jonah",
      "title": "Jonah · Yunus, the Man of the Fish",
      "body": "Commentary identifies the remembered prophet as Jonah. Verses 49–50 resolve the conditional warning through favor and righteousness; no exact date, verified tomb, or portrait is asserted.",
      "url": "https://quran.com/al-qalam/48/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran",
      "label": "Read the identification in commentary"
    }
  ],
  "history": [
    {
      "title": "An early Makkan setting without a precise order",
      "body": "The chapter introduction places Al-Qalam in the early Makkan mission and discusses proposed sequences. This reader retains the broad classification without declaring a precise revelation year or an uncontested second place.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-qalam/info"
    },
    {
      "title": "Character remembered by Aisha",
      "body": "In Muslim 746a, Aisha describes the Prophet’s character by connecting it with the Quran. The report provides an attributed perspective on lived conduct alongside the praise in verse 4.",
      "source": "https://sunnah.com/muslim:746a"
    },
    {
      "title": "A garden story without a verified site",
      "body": "The Quran gives a clear sequence of intention, loss, recognition, and hope. It does not name the garden’s owners or location, so the artwork preserves the story without inventing an archaeological identification.",
      "source": "https://original.sacred-texts.com/isl/pick/068.htm"
    },
    {
      "title": "Patience through the memory of Jonah",
      "body": "Ma’arif al-Qur’an identifies the Man of the Fish as Jonah. Quran 37:139–148 provides the longer account of the ship, fish, shore, and renewed mission; the surah’s shorter reminder draws attention to patience and favor.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/as-saffat/139"
    },
    {
      "title": "Judgment belongs beyond the opponents’ claims",
      "body": "Ibn Kathir treats the prostration scene as judgment and explains the warning that delay can conceal approaching consequence. The reader retains that attribution and does not visualize a divine body or assign a date.",
      "source": "https://quran.com/al-qalam/42/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir"
    }
  ],
  "revelationNote": "Makkan, commonly placed early in the mission. The 622 CE marker is the Hijrah period boundary, not a precise revelation date or fixed revelation order. The garden and Jonah’s shore remain unlocated. Prophet portraits and divine depictions are omitted; verse 49 is read as a conditional statement."
}