The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 Soon wilt thou see, and they will see, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are ancient legends". 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is Our chastisement; and the punishment of the Hereafter will be greater, if only they knew! 33