The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 And they made not the exception. 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (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 went in the morning with strong intention, thinking that they have power (to prevent the poor taking anything of the fruits therefrom). 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; to our Lord we humbly turn.' 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33