The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (the angels) write, 1 Thou art not, for thy Lord's favour unto thee, a madman. 2 And verily, thine shall be a reward neverending 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 which of you is a prey to madness. 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 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 Fain would they that thou shouldst be pliant, so that they will be pliant. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 [And] scorner, going about with malicious gossip - 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We shall mark him upon his nose! 16 Verily, We have tried them as We tried the people of the garden, when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning, 17 Without making exception. 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 Then they called out one to another as soon as the morning broke, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 “No destitute person shall enter it today.” 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then some of them drew near unto others, self-reproaching. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the Hereafter is assuredly even greater, if only they knew. 33