Surah Al-Qalam, Ayah 37

A Parable of the Removal of the Earnings of the Disbelievers

This is a parable that Allah made of the behavior of the Quraysh disbelievers with the great mercy, and tremendous favors He granted them. The mercy and favor of sending of Muhammad ﷺ to them. But they met him with denial, rejection and opposition. Therefore Allah says,

إِنَّا بَلَوْنَـهُمْ

(Verily, We have tried them) meaning, `We have tested them.'

كَمَا بَلَوْنَآ أَصْحَـبَ الْجَنَّةِ

(as We tried the People of the Garden,) This refers to a garden containing different types of fruits and vegetation.

إِذْ أَقْسَمُواْ لَيَصْرِمُنَّهَا مُصْبِحِينَ

(when they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the morning,) meaning, they vowed between themselves during the night that they would pluck the fruit of the garden in the morning so that poor and the beggars would not know what they were doing. In this way they would be able to keep its fruit for themselves and not give any of it in charity.

This verse: أَفَنَجْعَلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ كَالْمُجْرِ‌مِينَ (Otherwise, shall We make the obedient like the sinners?... 68:35). Clarifies that it is rationally necessary that there should come a time when people will have to give account of their deeds, a place where the guilty ones will find no escape routes, an ideal world where there will be absolute justice and fair play, where good and evil will be clearly distinguished. If this is not the state of affairs in the Hereafter, then no evil should be evil, and no sin should be sin in this mortal world. Divine justice would thus be rendered meaningless.

Since it is established that Resurrection is a reality and inevitable, the reward of good deeds is a reality and the punishment of evil deeds is a reality, the verses that follow describe the horrors of the Day of Judgment and the punishment of the evil ones, including the description of the exposure of the Shin [ kashf-us-saq ] in Verse 42 (the explanation of which may be seen in the foot-note given in the translation of that verse.)

Whatever a man earns in this world is apparently from farming or industry or other such pursuits. But, in fact, it is all given to him by the grace of God. If one considers it a gift from God and sets apart a portion of it for other subjects of God, Almighty God will bless his earnings. On the contrary, one who considers his earnings the result purely of his own talents and who is not, therefore, prepared to give others their dues, will find that his earnings will be of no avail. This is a strict law of God. In some cases, it manifests itself in this world, but in the Hereafter it will manifest itself for all, and none shall be exempt from it.