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 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And most surely you shall have a reward never to be cut off. 3 And indeed, you are of a great moral character. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily it is thy Lord that knoweth best, which (among men) hath strayed from His Path: and He knoweth best those who receive (true) Guidance. 7 Do not yield to those who reject the Truth. 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 And yield not to any mean swearer 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 those who hinder good, the guilty aggressor, 12 [or] one who is cruel, by greed possessed, and in addition to all this, utterly useless [to his fellow-men]. 13 Because he is a possessor of wealth and children, 14 When to him are rehearsed Our Signs, "Tales of the ancients", he cries! 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 16 We have tried them as We tried the owners of the garden who had sworn that in the morning they would reap it, 17 And they did not say, “If Allah wills”. 18 A visitor from your Lord circled around the garden during the night while they were asleep 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 So they called out to each other at the break of dawn, 21 "Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in the morning, if ye would gather the fruits." 22 So they set out, while lowering their voices, 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 They went betimes, strong in (this) purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, we are lost; 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They said, 'Glory be to God, our Lord; truly, we were evildoers.' 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 It may be that our Lord will give us better than this in place thereof. Lo! we beseech our Lord. 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33