The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. 4 And thou wilt see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 moreover ignoble, 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says: 'They are but fairytales of the ancients' 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tested them in the same way as we tested the dwellers of the garden (in Yemen) when they swore to pluck all the fruits of the garden in the morning, 17 And they made not the exception. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 Then they cried out unto each other in the morning. 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The best among them said: “Did I not say to you: why do you not give glory to (your Lord)?” 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 SUCH is the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it! 33