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 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil]. 6 Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path and who is rightly guided. 7 Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 They wish that you should compromise (in religion out of courtesy) with them, so they (too) would compromise with you. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 or that because he may possess wealth and children. 14 and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: “These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 16 Surely We will try them as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would certainly cut off the produce in the morning, 17 Without making exception. 18 Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep. 19 And in the morning it was as if plucked. 20 At daybreak they called out to one another: 21 "Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in the morning, if ye would gather the fruits." 22 They all left, whispering to one another, 23 "Let no needy person come to you within it today." 24 And they went out betimes determined in purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!" 27 (Whereupon) the best among them said: 'Did I not say to you to exalt (Allah)' 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said: woe unto us! verily we! we have been arrogant. 31 It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better than it; to our Lord we humbly turn.' 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