The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (the angels) write, 1 You are not demented by the grace of your Lord. 2 There is surely reward unending for you, 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 So you will see and they will see 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 do not yield to the rejecters. 8 They want you to make concessions to them and then they will reciprocate. 9 And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, 10 The excessively insulting one, spreader of spite. 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 When you recite Our revelations to him, he says: "These are fables of long ago." 15 We shall brand him on his nose. 16 We have indeed tested them the way We had tested the owners of the garden when they swore that they would reap its harvest the next morning. 17 and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 18 Then there encompassed it a visitation from your Lord while they were sleeping. 19 And it became as though reaped. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 'Come out to your tillage if you want to reap' 22 So they went, while they consulted together secretly, 23 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it, they said, "We must have lost our way. 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 A reasonable one among them said, "Did I not tell you that you should glorify God?" 28 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!" 29 and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches. 30 They said, "Woe to us. We have been arrogant. 31 Perhaps our Lord will substitute for us [one] better than it. Indeed, we are toward our Lord desirous." 32 Such was the punishment. And verily the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they did but know. 33