The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ 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 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 For you are verily born of sublime nature. 4 and [one day] thou shalt see, and they [who now deride thee] shall see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 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 So do not comply with those who deny: 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 Or backbiter, calumniator, slanderer, 11 the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We shall brand him on his nose. 16 Verily We have tried them as We tried the People of the Garden, when they resolved to gather the fruits of the (garden) in the morning. 17 Without making exception. 18 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were 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 to your tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits." 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 No needy man shall enter it to-day against you. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 nay, rather we have been robbed!' 27 The most moderate of them said: said I not unto you, wherefore hallow him ye not! 28 They said, "Glory be to God, our Lord. We have surely done wrong." 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said, 'Woe, alas for us! Truly, we were insolent. 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is the chastisement; and the chastisement of the world to come, is assuredly greater, did they but know. 33