The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ 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 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 You have attained a high moral standard. 4 So you will see and they will see 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 [or to] the slanderer that goes about with defaming tales, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 Greedy therewithal, intrusive. 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy-tales of the ancients!' 15 We shall mark him upon his 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 without making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Then a calamity from your Lord fell upon it, but they remained fast asleep. 19 And by morning it lay as if it had already been harvested, a barren land. 20 (Then) in the morning they called out to one another, saying: 21 [Saying], "Go early to your crop if you would cut the fruit." 22 Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another, 23 “Make sure that no needy person enters your garden this day.” 24 And they went early in determination, [assuming themselves] able. 25 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!" 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 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 Then they turned to each other reproaching. 30 They said: Alas for us! In truth we were outrageous. 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33