The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 You are not insane, by the munificence of your Lord. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 Because he* has some wealth and sons. (Walid bin Mugaira, who cursed the Holy Prophet.) 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 Without making exception. 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 When they saw (and did not recognise it) they said: "Surely we have lost the way. 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said, "Woe to us. We have been arrogant. 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such is the punishment (in this life), but truly, the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they but knew. 33