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 you are not, because of the favor of your Lord, mad. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 For you are verily born of sublime nature. 4 So you will soon see, and they too will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 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 adding to their swearing, (Allah willing, InshaAllah). 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 and in the morning it was if the garden had been reaped. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33