The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 You will see and they will also 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 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We shall brand him on his 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 Without making exception. 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 In the morning they called out to one another, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "Verily, we have gone astray," 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they approached one another, blaming each other. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!" 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33