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 (Muhammad), you are not insane, thanks to the bounty of your Lord. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We will brand him upon the snout. 16 [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 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 went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 "Let no beggar come to the garden". 24 And they went in the morning with strong intention, thinking that they have power (to prevent the poor taking anything of the fruits therefrom). 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously! 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33