The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (the angels) write, 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 Hinderer of the good, trespasser; sinner. 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 Without making exception. 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 'Come forth betimes upon your tillage, if you would pluck!' 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 Then when they saw it, they said, “We have indeed strayed.” 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 Then they turned to each other reproaching. 30 They said: “Woe to us! We had indeed transgressed. 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