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 lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Heed not the type of despicable men,- ready with oaths, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Crude, and above all, mean and infamous, 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When Our revelations are rehearsed unto him, he saith: fables of the ancients. 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 And they made not the exception. 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 So they came towards each other, blaming. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us better than this. We turn to our Lord in supplication." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33