The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 Thou art not, by thy Sustainer's grace, a madman! 2 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 For you are verily born of sublime nature. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 which of you is the demented. 6 Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And obey not everyone who swears much, and is considered worthless, 10 Defamer, going about with slander 11 Hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, 12 Violent (and cruel),- with all that, base-born,- 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “These are stories of earlier people.” 15 Soon shall We brand him on his 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 made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 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 went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 No. In fact we have been deprived of it." 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They said: "Glory to Our Lord! Verily, we have been Zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.)." 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know. 33