The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 you are not, because of the favor of your Lord, mad. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Indeed, your Lord knows very well those who strayed from His Path, and those who are guided. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you]. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout! 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,- 21 Saying: go out betimes to your tilth if ye would reap. 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase 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, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33