The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Nor ever listen to any excessive oath maker, ignoble person. 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 the crude of low character 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 Without making exception. 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 "Go early to your farms, if you want to pluck the fruits". 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 No Miskin (poor man) shall enter upon you into it today. 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 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33