The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33