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 thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, a man possessed. 2 And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. 3 For you are verily born of sublime nature. 4 Soon you will see, as will they, 5 which of you was bereft of reason. 6 Your Lord knows best who has fallen by the wayside, and who has remained on the true path. 7 Therefore do not listen to the deniers. 8 They would like you to relent to them so that they could also relent towards you. 9 Neither obey thou each feeble oath-monger, 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 Cruel, after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth), 13 (He was so) because he had wealth and children. 14 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. 15 We shall brand him upon the muzzle! 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 without saying, "If it be God's will." 18 So an envoy from your Lord completed his round upon the garden, whilst they were sleeping. 19 Then in the morning it became as though it had been reaped. 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 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 'No needy man shall enter it today against your will.' 24 And in the morning they went, having the power to prevent. 25 But when they saw it they said: 'We have surely gone astray. 26 (Then they said): "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of (the fruits)!" 27 One who was temperate among them, said: "Did I not say: 'Why don't you priase God?'" 28 They said, "All glory belongs to God. We have certainly been unjust". 29 Then they began to heap reproaches on each other. 30 They said 'Woe to us, truly we were insolent' 31 May be our Lord will give us a better orchard in its stead; we turn to Him." 32 Such is the punishment [of this world]. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. 33