The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (the angels) write, 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 You will see and they will also 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 Wherefore obey not thou the beliers. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 Do not yield to any contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We will soon singe his pig-nose. 16 Now We have tried them, even as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck in the morning 17 And they made not the exception. 18 Then, a visitation from your Lord came down upon it while they slept, 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 And they called out to each other in the morning, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 [Saying], "There will surely not enter it today upon you [any] poor person." 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 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!" 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 Saying: "Alas the woe, we were iniquitous. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33