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 thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 7 Then do not obey the deniers. 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 Said one of them, more just (than the rest): "Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?'" 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33