The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. 2 Nay, verily for thee is a Reward unfailing: 3 For you are truly of a sublime character. 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 Hence, defer not to [the likes and dislikes of] those who give the lie to the truth: 8 they wish you would compromise, then, they would compromise. 9 And obey not thou any swearer ignominous. 10 the fault-finder who goes around slandering, 11 A preventer of good, transgressing and sinful, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We shall brand him over the nose! 16 We have tried them as we tried the owners of a certain orchard, who vowed to harvest all its fruits the next morning, 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 So there came upon the garden an affliction from your Lord while they were asleep. 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 And they called one another at morning, 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 Saying: No poor man shall enter it today upon you. 24 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'" 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 And they advanced one upon another, blaming each other. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Perhaps our Lord will replace it with a better garden. We turn in repentance to our Lord". 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33