68. Al-Qalam (The Pen)

Mecca Period 2


The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:




إِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِ آيَاتُنَا ...

68:15.  When to him are rehearsed Our Signs,

C5603. Allah's Signs, by which He calls us, are everywhere-in nature and in our very heart and soul. In Revelation, every verse is a Sign, for it stands symbolically for far more than it says. "Sign" (Ayat) thus becomes a technical term for a verse of the Quran.

... قَالَ أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ ﴿١٥﴾

"Tales of the Ancients," he cries.

C5604. Cf. 6:25.

سَنَسِمُهُ عَلَى الْخُرْطُومِ ﴿١٦﴾

68: 16.  Soon shall We brand (the beast) on the snout!

C5605. literally, proboscis, the most sensitive limb of the elephant. The sinner makes himself a beast and can only be controlled by his snout.

 

إِنَّا بَلَوْنَاهُمْ كَمَا بَلَوْنَا أَصْحَابَ الْجَنَّةِ ...

68: 17.  Verily We have tried them as We tried the people of the Garden

C5606. "Why do the wicked flourish?" is a question asked in all ages. The answer is not simple. It must refer to

All these points are illustrated in the remarkable Parable of the People of the Garden, which also illustrates the greed, selfishness, and heedlessness of man, as well as his tendency to throw the blame on others if he can but think of a scapegoat.

All these foibles are shown, but the Mercy of Allah is boundless, and even after the worst sins and punishments, there may be hope of an even better orchard than the one lost, if only the repentance is true, and there is complete surrender to Allah's Will. But if, in spite of ail this, there is no surrender of the will, then, indeed, the punishment in the Hereafter is something incomparably greater than the little calamities in the Parable.

... إِذْ أَقْسَمُوا لَيَصْرِمُنَّهَا مُصْبِحِينَ ﴿١٧﴾

when they resolved to gather the fruits of the (garden) in the morning.

وَلَا يَسْتَثْنُونَ ﴿١٨﴾

68: 18.  But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will").

C5607. We must always remember, in all our plans, that they depend for their success on how far they accord with Allah's Will and Plan. His universal Will is supreme over all affairs.

These foolish men had a secret plan to defraud the poor of their just rights, but they were put into a position where they could not do so. In trying to frustrate others, they were themselves frustrated.

فَطَافَ عَلَيْهَا طَائِفٌ مِّن رَّبِّكَ ...

68: 19.  So there came, on the (garden) a visitation from thy from thy Lord,

C5608. It was a terrible storm that blew down and destroyed the fruits and the trees. The whole place was changed out of all recognition.

... وَهُمْ نَائِمُونَ ﴿١٩﴾

(which swept away) all around, while they were asleep.

فَأَصْبَحَتْ كَالصَّرِيمِ ﴿٢٠﴾

68: 20.  So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered).

 

فَتَنَادَوا مُصْبِحِينَ ﴿٢١﴾

68: 21.  As the morning broke, they called out, one to another --

أَنِ اغْدُوا عَلَى حَرْثِكُمْ ...

68: 22.  "Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in morning, ....

C5609. Awaking from sleep, they were not aware that the garden had been destroyed by the storm overnight. They were in their own selfish dreams: by going very early, they thought they could cheat the poor of their share. See next note.

... إِن كُنتُمْ صَارِمِينَ ﴿٢٢﴾

.. if ye would gather the fruits."

فَانطَلَقُوا وَهُمْ يَتَخَافَتُونَ ﴿٢٣﴾

68: 23.  So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying) --

أَن لَّا يَدْخُلَنَّهَا الْيَوْمَ عَلَيْكُم مِّسْكِينٌ ﴿٢٤﴾

68: 24.  "Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day."

C5610. The poor man has a right in the harvest-whether as a gleaner or as an artisan or a menial in an Eastern village. The rich owners of the orchard in the Parable wanted to steal a march at an early hour and defeat this right, but their greed was punished, so that it led to a greater loss to themselves. They wanted to cheat but had not the courage to face those they cheated, and by being in the field before any one was up they wanted to make it appear to the world that they were unconscious of any rights they were trampling on.

وَغَدَوْا عَلَى حَرْدٍ قَادِرِينَ ﴿٢٥﴾

68: 25.  And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve.

فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهَا قَالُوا إِنَّا لَضَالُّونَ ﴿٢٦﴾

68: 26.  But when they saw the (garden), they said:

"We have surely lost our way:

C5611. Their fond dreams were dispelled when they found that the garden had been changed out of all recognition. It was as if they had come to some place other than their own smiling garden. Where they had expected to reap a rich harvest, there was only a howling wilderness. They reflected. Their first thought was of their own personal loss, the loss of their labour and the loss of their capital. They had plotted to keep out others from the fruits: now, as it happened, the loss was their own.

بَلْ نَحْنُ مَحْرُومُونَ ﴿٢٧﴾

68: 27.  "Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labor)!"

C5612. Cf. 56:67. Also see last note.

قَالَ أَوْسَطُهُمْ ...

68: 28.  Said one of them, more just (than the rest):

C5613. This was not necessarily a righteous man, but there are degrees in guilt. He had warned them, but he had joined in their unjust design.

... أَلَمْ أَقُل لَّكُمْ لَوْلَا تُسَبِّحُونَ ﴿٢٨﴾

"Did I not say to you, 'Why not glorify (Allah)?' "

قَالُوا سُبْحَانَ رَبِّنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ ﴿٢٩﴾

68: 29.  They said:

"Glory to our Lord!

Verily we have been doing wrong!"

 

فَأَقْبَلَ بَعْضُهُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ يَتَلَاوَمُونَ ﴿٣٠﴾

68: 30.  Then they turned, one against another, in reproach.

C5614. When greed or injustice is punished people are ready to throw the blame on others. In this case, one particular individual may have seen the moral guilt of defying the Will of Allah and the right of man, but if he shared in the enterprise in the hope of profit, he could not get out of all responsibility.

قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا طَاغِينَ ﴿٣١﴾

68: 31.  They said:

"Alas for us!

We have indeed transgressed!

عَسَى رَبُّنَا أَن يُبْدِلَنَا خَيْرًا مِّنْهَا إِنَّا إِلَى رَبِّنَا رَاغِبُونَ ﴿٣٢﴾

68: 32.  "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this:

for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!"

C5615. If the repentance was true, there was hope. For Allah often turns a great evil to our good. If not true, they only added hypocrisy to their other sins.

The Parable presupposes that the garden came into the possession of selfish men, who were so puffed up with their good fortune that they forgot Allah. That meant that they also became harsh to their fellow-creatures. In their arrogance they plotted to get up early and defeat the claims of the poor at harvest time. They found their garden destroyed by a storm. Some reproached others, but those who sincerely repented obtained mercy.

The "better garden" may have been the same garden, flourishing in a future season under Allah's gift of abundance.

كَذَلِكَ الْعَذَابُ ...

68: 33.  Such is the Punishment (in this life);

... وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ ...

but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter --

C5616. Even in this life the punishment for heedless or selfish arrogance and sin comes suddenly when we least expect it. But there is always room for Allah's Mercy if we sincerely repent. If the Punishment in this fife seems to us so stupefying, how much worse will it be in the Hereafter, when the Punishment will not be only for a limited time, and the time for repentance will have passed?

... لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٣٣﴾

if only they knew!



Asad’s Version:


(68:15) that, whenever Our messages are conveyed to him, such a one says, "Fables of ancient times"?'

(68: 16) [For this] We shall brand him with indelible disgrace! 10

(68:17) [As for such sinners,] behold, We [but] try them 11 as We tried the owners of a certain garden who vowed that they would surely harvest its fruit on the morrow,

(68: 18) and made no allowance [for the will of God]: 12

(68: 19) whereupon a visitation for thy Sustainer came upon that [garden] while they were asleep,

(68:20) so that by the morrow it became barren and bleak.


68:21 Now when they rose at early morn, they called unto one another,

(68:22) "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!"

(68:23) Thus they launched forth, whispering unto one another,

(68:24)"Indeed, no needy person shall enter it today [and come] upon you[unawares]," 13

(68:25) and early they went, strongly bent upon their purpose.


68:26 But as soon as they beheld [the garden and could not recognize] it, they exclaimed, "Surely we have lost our way!"

(68:27) - [and then,] "Nay, but we have been rendered destitute!"

(68:28) Said the most right-minded among them: "Did I not tell you, 'Will you not extol God's limitless glory?'""


68:29 They answered: "Limitless in His glory is our Sustainer! Verily, we were doing wrong!"

(68:30) - and then they turned upon one another with mutual reproaches.

(68:31) [In the end] they said: "Oh, woe unto us! Verily, we did behave outrageously!

(68:32) [But] it may be that our Sustainer will grant us something better instead: 15 for, verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn with hope!"


68:33 SUCH is the suffering [with which We try some people in this world]; 16 but greater by far will be the suffering [which sinners shall have to bear] in the life to come - if they but knew it!




[[Asad’s notes –

11 I.e., by bestowing on them affluence out of all proportion to their moral deserts.


12 I.e., they resolved upon their objective without the reservation, "if God so wills"; which points to the first lesson to be derived from this parable, as well as to its connection with the rhetorical question inverses 14-15 above.


1 3 Ever since Biblical times it has been understood that the poor have a right to a share in the harvest of the fields and gardens owned by their more fortunate fellow-men (cf. 6:141 - "give [unto the poor] their due on harvest-day"). The determination of the "owners of the garden" to deprive the poor of this right is the second type of sin to which the above parable points: and inasmuch as it is a social sin, it connects with verses 10-13.


14 This is obviously a reference to their failure to realize that nothing can come about unless the Almighty so wills (verse 1 8).


1 5 Namely, His forgiveness.


16 This connects with the first clause of verse 17 above, which, in its turn, contains an allusion to the mentality spoken of in verses 14-15. ]]