The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. 3 Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality. 4 So thou shalt see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 6 Verily, thy Sustainer alone is fully aware as to who has strayed from His path, Just as He alone is fully aware of those who have found the right way. 7 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 Furthermore, defer not to the contemptible swearer of oaths, 10 Detracter, spreader abroad of slanders, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 Is it because he is possessed of worldly goods and children 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 We shall brand him on the nose. 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 and they added not the saving words. 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 So it became as black, barren land. 20 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another, 21 "Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in the morning, if ye would gather the fruits." 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The more upright of the two said, "Did I not bid you to glorify God?" 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 Said they: O woe to us! surely we were inordinate: 31 “Hopefully, our Lord will give us a better replacement than this – we now incline towards our Lord.” 32 Such was their punishment, [in this life]. But the punishment of the life to come is much more severe, if only they knew it! 33