The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (the angels) write, 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 surely thou art upon a mighty morality. 4 So very soon, you will see and they too will realise – 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily thy Lord! He is the best Knower of him who strayeth from His path, and He is the best Knower of the guided one. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 Forbidder of good, outstepping the limits, sinful, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 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 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then there passed by on the (garden) something (fire) from your Lord at night and burnt it while they were asleep. 19 and so by morning the orchard lay as though it had been fully harvested. 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 Saying: Run unto your field if ye would pluck (the fruit). 22 So they went off speaking to each other in a low voice. 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw the (garden), they said: "We have surely lost our way: 26 Rather, we have been deprived." 27 The best among them said: Said I not unto you: Why glorify ye not (Allah)? 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then some of them advanced against others, blaming each other. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 Belike our Lord may exchange for us better garden than this; verily we are unto our Lord beseechers. 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