The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 They wish that you should be pliant so they (too) would be pliant. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 But did not add: "If God may please." 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 At daybreak they called to each other: 21 That, “Go to your fields at early morn, if you want to harvest.” 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 SUCH is the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it! 33