The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (the angels) write, 1 You (O Muhammad SAW) are not, by the Grace of your Lord, a madman. 2 Most surely, you will have a never ending reward. 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 obstructing virtues, a sinful transgressor, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 They went forth early, believing that they had the power (to gather the fruit). 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know. 33