The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 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 So do not yield to the rejecters. 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 and they added not the saving words. 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 plucked. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 rather, we are utterly ruined.” 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 Then they began to heap reproaches on 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, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33