The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, 1 By your Lord's Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, 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 the demented. 6 Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course. 7 So obey thou not those who cry lies. 8 They wish that thou shouldst compromise, then they would compromise. 9 Do not yield to one persistent in swearing, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 because he has wealth and sons. 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 We shall mark him upon his 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 they added not the saving words. 18 A calamity from your Lord befell the orchard as they slept. 19 So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered). 20 And they cried out one unto another in the morning, 21 saying, "Be quick to reach your orchard, if you want to gather all your fruits." 22 And so they departed, whispering to one another: 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 When they saw the garden, they said, "Surely we have lost our way. 26 Indeed, we are utterly ruined!" 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said: Glorified be our Lord! Lo! we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said: "Woe to us! Verily, we were Taghun (transgressors and disobedient, etc.) 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than it in exchange. To our Lord we humbly turn' 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33