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, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 You will see and they will also 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 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 Heed not the type of despicable men,- ready with oaths, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 the crude of low character 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore. 15 We shall mark him upon his 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 were not willing to set aside a portion (for the poor). 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33