The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Noon. By the Pen and that (the angels) write, 1 You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. 2 And verily thine shall be a hire unending. 3 for, behold, thou keepest indeed to a sublime way of life; 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 Which of you is the demented. 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, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; 8 they would like thee to be soft [with them,] so that they might be soft [with thee]. 9 Do not heed a contemptible swearer, 10 A defamer, spreader abroad of slander. 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Ignoble, besides all that, base-born; 13 Because he possesses wealth and (numerous) sons. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 Anon We shall brand him on snout. 16 We have tried you as We tried the owners of the garden when they vowed to gather the fruits in the morning 17 Without saying: Insha' Allah (If Allah will). 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 So in the morning it became as if harvested. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 Saying: Go early to your tilth if you would cut (the produce). 22 So they departed, talking in low voices: 23 Let there not enter upon you today any needy man. 24 And they left at early morn, assuming they were in control of their purpose. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 Aye! it is we who are deprived! 27 Said the most moderate of them, 'Did I not say to you, "Why do you not give glory?"' 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Then they turned, one against another, in reproach. 30 They said, “Woe to us – we were indeed rebellious.” 31 We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)." 32 Such was their punishment. But the punishment of the Everlasting Life is much greater, if they but knew. 33