The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 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 So hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him, he says: "Tales of the men of old!" 15 We will brand him on the nose. 16 We have put them [i.e., the Makkans] to test even as We put to test the owners of the orchard when they vowed that they would gather the fruit of their orchard in the morning, 17 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 Saying: "Go to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they departed, whispering together, 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! 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 chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33