The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially 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 surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 They wish that in some way you may yield, so they too might soften their stand. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender. 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 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 and they added not the saving words. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 "If you want to gather the fruits, let us go early to the plantation." 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 (No, we are not lost.) In fact, we have been deprived of everything". 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said, "Woe to us. We have been arrogant. 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33