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 By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. 2 And indeed for you is an unlimited reward. 3 And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. 4 You will see and they will also see 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And do not obey every worthless habitual swearer 10 back-biting, gossiping, 11 hinderer of good, guilty aggressor, coarse-grained, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"? 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 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 whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep, 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went off, while whispering to one another. 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 And they went out early, determined in their resolve. 25 But as soon as they beheld the orchard, (they cried out): “We have certainly lost the way; 26 Nay, but we are desolate! 27 The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)? 28 'Exaltations to Allah, our Lord' they said, 'We were truly harmdoers' 29 Then they turned, one against another, in blaming. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 Maybe, our Lord will give us instead one better than it; surely to our Lord do we make our humble petition. 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