The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (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 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 And they made not the exception. 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 "Glory to our Lord," they said; we were really in the wrong." 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33