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 Surely thou shalt have a wage unfailing; 3 And indeed you possess an exemplary character. 4 So you shall see, and they (too) shall see, 5 Which of you is afflicted with madness. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Do not give in to the deniers of truth. 8 They only want that you should relent, so that they may come to terms. 9 And obey thou not every mean swearer, 10 A slanderer, going about with calumnies, 11 [or] the withholder of good, [or] the sinful aggressor, 12 the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; 13 Because he possesses wealth and sons. 14 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." 15 [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 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 making any allowance (for the will of Allah). 18 Wherefore an encircling visitation visited it even as they slept on. 19 So the (garden) became black by the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins). 20 They then called out to each other at daybreak. 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they went off, saying one unto another in low tones: 23 "Be sure to stop any poor person from entering the orchard today." 24 They were resolved to repel the beggars. 25 Then when they beheld it, they said: verily we have strayed. 26 No, rather, we have been prevented' 27 The best of them said: Did I not say to you, Why do you not glorify (Allah)? 28 They said: hallowed be Our Lord! verily we have been wrong-doers. 29 Some of them started to blame others. 30 They said, "Alas for us, our behaviour was beyond the pale. 31 Maybe our Lord will give us a better orchard in its place; to our Lord do we penitently turn.” 32 Such is the torment if only they knew that the torment in the life hereafter will certainly be greater. 33