The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (the angels) write, 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So you will see, and they will realise, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 So hearken not to those who deny (the Truth). 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 the crude of low character 13 (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 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 Thereupon a calamity from your Lord passed over it while they were asleep, 19 So by the morning it seemed as though picked clean. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said, 'Surely we are gone astray; 26 [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!" 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said: "Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed! 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 Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33