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, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 6 Indeed your Lord well knows those who have strayed from His path, and He well knows those who are upon guidance. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 backbiter, going about with slander, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 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 And they made not the exception. 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord came upon it while they slept 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 “Hurry to your orchard if you would gather its fruit.” 22 So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)- 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 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 Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 Then they started blaming one another, 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33