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 Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed. 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence. 4 Anon thou wilt see and they will see. 5 which of you has been afflicted by insanity. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 So (O Muhammad SAW) obey not the deniers [(of Islamic Monotheism those who belie the Verses of Allah), the Oneness of Allah, and the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad SAW), etc.] 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 Gross, and therewithal ignoble. 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 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 added not the saving words. 18 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 and in the morning it was as if it were a garden plucked. 20 In the morning they called out to one another, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So off they went, whispering to one another: 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Most surely we have gone astray 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 The most moderate of them said, "Did I not say to you, 'Why do you not exalt [Allah]?' " 28 They cried out: “Glory be to our Lord! Certainly we were sinners.” 29 And they came blaming one another. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33