The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (the angels) write, 1 you are not, because of the favor of your Lord, mad. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 For you are verily born of sublime nature. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 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 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 Who would have had thee compromise, that they may compromise. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 moreover ignoble, 13 just because he has wealth and sons, 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him on the muzzle. 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 a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day." 24 They set out early in the morning, thinking they had the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said, "Woe to us. We have been arrogant. 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such is the torment. And the torment of the Hereafter is far greater; if they but knew. 33