The First Story In The Quran: Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed | Quran Lessons & Islamic Reminders

The First Story in the Quran: Lessons from Surah Al-Qalam

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ. نَحْمَدُهُ وَنُصَلِّي عَلَى رَسُولِهِ الْكَرِيمِ. أَمَّا بَعْدُ.

What do you guys think is the first story in the Quran? The first story in the Quran — what is it? The story of Adam? This is not like a khutbah where you have to be uptight and give whatever answer. Anything that comes to your head, you can say it. It's Shaytan's story, whatever — say it. Whatever you think.

I remember I asked — with kids it's better — you ask them, where did the Prophet migrate from Mecca to? They say Paris. I go, okay, good job. Whatever comes to your head, say it.

The story of Yusuf alayhi s-salam. Okay, that's one option. The second option was Adam alayhi s-salam's story. Ibrahim alayhi s-salam's story. But Ibrahim's story comes many times in the Quran. So, this is the first bit of knowledge you're going to learn today.

The First Story Revealed

The first story in the Quran revealed, according to most Mufassireen, is in the fifth surah revealed — the fourth or fifth. One of the first five surahs that were revealed. In whichever order the Mufassireen say, these are:

Some say it is Surah Al-Fatihah and then Surah Al-Qalam. These are the first five surahs that were revealed. In Surah Al-Qalam, there is a story that is mentioned — and that is the first story revealed in the Quran.

Imagine how important this story is, and the lessons from it. Imagine how important the lessons are. If it was the first story — among all the other stories in the Quran — this was the first story mentioned. Just imagine how important it is and the lessons that you can derive from it.

Now, this story is not the first story of a prophet mentioned in the Quran. The first story mentioned in the Quran about any prophet is the story of Yunus alayhi s-salam. Towards the end of my session today, I'll circle back to one point about why the Mufassireen say his story was mentioned as the first story of a prophet revealed to the Prophet ﷺ.

Context of Surah Al-Qalam

Surah Al-Qalam is a Meccan surah — it was revealed in Mecca. At the beginning, Allah talks to the Prophet ﷺ and says to him:

Think about this: when you say the same thing over and over and over again to somebody, that person starts to develop this mentality that they may be suffering from that problem. For example, you keep on telling a student, "You're dumb. You're dumb. You're dumb." What does that person start thinking? They start having negative thoughts about themselves. That's why it is very bad to do that.

Actually, the opposite of this is the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. It is to give good names. This habit of giving good names comes from identifying one good quality in a person and referring to that person over and over again about that one good quality — until that person starts to think that maybe they have that quality. We don't do that enough. With our kids, with our friends.

When I first read about this in Fakhr ud-Din Allama Razi's tafsir — it's in Surah Al-Hujurat — he mentions: look at your children, or your friends. Everyone has a good quality. You must be blind if you can't find a good quality in somebody. Identify one good quality. Keep on saying it, keep on saying it, keep on saying it — until they start living up to that quality.

So one day I went home and I said, today I'm going to practice this Sunnah. I'm laying in bed. I say, "Hey Yusuf — mashaAllah, you're so caring. You're so generous." I kept on saying it to him. Then I look at the other one — Mu'adh — across the bed. I say, "Mu'adh — mashaAllah, you have such a kind heart. You're so kind-hearted. You have such a soft heart." As I was saying that to him, Yusuf looks back at me and says, "Abu, what does generous mean?" And I said, "Generous means to share what you have and to love sharing with others." Mentioning it over and over again until it becomes something they live up to, try to reach, try to aspire to — that is the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

Now look at the opposite of that. The people at the time of the Prophet ﷺ kept on calling him majnoon — crazy, insane, mental. You're a poet. You're a magician. You're a fortune teller. You're crazy. The Prophet ﷺ was hearing these things over and over again, and naturally he is a human being — imagine what he was going through. So Allah came to his defense. Not another human being. Allah came to his defense. Allah swears by the Quran and says: you are from among the messengers — a reaffirmation. Don't worry about it. What these people are saying is incorrect.

The Qualities of Walid ibn al-Mughirah

The next part of the surah contains verses that were revealed about Walid ibn al-Mughirah — the father of Khalid ibn al-Walid. Every time I read these ayahs I think of Khalid ibn al-Walid, honestly. These ayahs were revealed rebuking the father of Khalid. Allah is telling us in the Quran, in Surah Al-Qalam, the punishment of the father of Khalid ibn al-Mughirah.

Now, Khalid ibn al-Walid accepted Islam. You know what Umar ibn al-Khattab said when some people around him said, "I wish I was there at the time of the Prophet ﷺ"? Umar said, "Don't say that. Allah knows best. You have no idea what we had to go through." And then he said: one of the most difficult things we had to go through was that we accepted Islam and our family members didn't accept Islam — and they died without the Kalimah, knowing that they would be in Jahannam forever because they were idol worshippers. That is something you don't have to go through. Your fathers, your mothers, your brothers, your sisters, your children are all Muslim. But for us it was so difficult — such a sacrifice.

If you have family, friends, or people in the community who are converts whose parents are alive — every time I speak to a convert who is an elderly person, one person I met recently in Detroit, he's about 60 years old, his mother is like 90, she hasn't accepted Islam yet. Every time he meets you he says, "Please make dua for my mom." Imagine what he's going to be feeling burying her if she didn't accept Islam. It is a very difficult thing to go through.

Now imagine what Khalid is going through when he reads these ayahs knowing it's about his father. But they had iman. Their iman prevailed over everything.

Allah says:

O Prophet of Allah, do not obey those who reject Islam.

They wish that you would compromise and then they would also compromise. They want you to take some things out of your deen. Society today wants us to do that.

Then He mentions a few qualities, saying:

The first two: do not obey every person who excessively swears — always taking oaths — and who is disgraced. مَهِين is a person who is disgraced. These are qualities Allah is using to characterize the father of Khalid.

هَمَّاز — does anyone recall where hammaz appears in the Quran? وَيْلٌ لِّكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ لُّمَزَةٍ — Hammaz is a person who searches for faults in others. And لُمَزَة is a person who talks about people's faults. Some say hammaz is a person who makes fun of others with gestures, and lumaz is a person who makes fun of others through verbal abuse. Sometimes through gestures we make fun of people — "Look at that person, he's so short" — with gestures. Allah says, do not follow these people.

مَشَّاءٍ بِنَمِيمٍ — a person who excels in carrying tales. He highlights faults, over-exaggerates, and talks about it behind people's backs. مَنَّاعٍ لِّلْخَيْرِ — who prevents good. مُعْتَدٍ أَثِيمٍ — who transgresses, who is sinful.

عُتُلٍّ is a person who is harsh. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 87)

A person who is deprived of gentleness and politeness is deprived of all khayr. Being gentle and polite is the best of all khayr.

Then He says زَنِيم — a person who is born out of wedlock. And from this ayah, this person went to his mother, and his mother confirmed it was so.

Now Allah talks about something important. He says: these people — I have given them so much ni'mahs. He had ten children, so much wealth. In spite of that, he did not obey Me. There is one type of person who Allah has given so much, but despite the ni'mahs, they don't obey Allah. This is even worse.

The Story of the People of the Garden

He starts with the story, mentioning some characteristics of Walid ibn al-Mughirah, and then he ends by saying: look, this person was given so much, but he forgot the source. The source is Allah. You can't forget the source.

You know, I look at a child — a baby who's maybe a year, year and a half — crawling in the middle of the room. There'll be seven women around him: his sister, his aunt, his mother, his grandmother. He'll be playing with all of them. But when he needs something, he knows who his mom is. He goes straight to the mom. He knows the source. Even though there are seven women sitting in front of him, he'll walk straight to his mother. And we today forget the source.

Then He talks about the story of the people of the garden. There was a man in Yemen, in a place near Sana'a — and some say it was in Ethiopia. This man was a righteous person who lived in the time between Isa alayhi s-salam and the Prophet ﷺ. He would literally give 50% of his wealth in the path of Allah. Some say that what he would do is take only what he needed, and leave the rest of the garden open — no walls, no fence, no barriers, no gate. If you're poor and you need anything — anytime of the day, anytime of the night — just come and take.

Then once he got older, his children started to think: our family is increasing. Before it was just our father, but now we have all these brothers, all these grandkids. So what we need to do is stop giving to the poor.

They made an oath that from now onwards, they are not going to give to any of the poor people.

In the tafsir of this ayah, it is said they did not exclude the poor, the orphan, or those in need. They didn't exclude them at all.

Forgetting the Source

Sometimes we get into this false assumption that what we have, we worked for. But what you have is a gift from Allah. Maybe you worked for it, but it is still a gift from Allah. Every single thing you have is a gift from Allah. This is the same mistake Qarun made. When Qarun got all that wealth, he got destroyed because of one statement. When Musa alayhi s-salam said to him, "Do you know the source? Allah is the source of all this," Qarun said:

"I got all this through my own effort." Through my own degrees, my own hardships, my own sacrifices, my own intellect, I got this. And Allah did not like that. We forget the source. Allah is the source. Everything is a gift. Allah can take from you whenever He wants. Allah can give to you whenever He wants.

One of the duas of the Prophet ﷺ after every salah:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 844; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 593)

Imagine the Prophet ﷺ making this dua after every single salah. He's saying: "O Allah, nobody can prevent that which You have given. Once You have decided to give someone a gift, no one can prevent it. And if You have prevented a ni'mah from coming to me, no one in the world can give it to me. And no one's hard effort, hard work can make any difference. This is a ni'mah from Allah."

Sometimes we start thinking: Allah has given me so much, and if I give to others, it's taking away from my own. In Surah Yasin, when the Prophet ﷺ told the people of Makkah to spend, the first criticism they had was:

"Why should we feed the people when you say Allah is the one who feeds them? Allah can feed them Himself." And in this ayah, Allah talks about the hikmah — yes, Allah is feeding them, but Allah is giving you the resources and through you He is feeding them, so that you can get the reward. Allah is giving you the opportunity. That's why you have what you have.

A Story of Opportunity

Just recently, a few weeks ago, I was sitting in MIA — our boarding school — and a lady came with her child for admission in the middle of the year. At that time I was already somewhat reluctant because in the middle of the year we don't accept children. Sheikh Ammar and Sheikh Ishtiaq interviewed the child, and they said he was a good kid — 11, 12 years old. They said to me that she wanted to meet me.

So I sat with her and as I sat with her she started to weep. She said, "Please accept my son." And then she said: when I was pregnant with him, my husband said to me, "You have to abort the child." I said I don't want to. He said, "Then you have to leave the house." And he divorced me and kicked me out. I had no family here, no one in this country, I didn't know anyone. So I ended up living in a shelter. My son was born in a shelter. We lived in a shelter for six years. Then we got an apartment, and after we got out of the shelter, I was diagnosed with cancer. Now the son is 11 years old and she's saying, "Please accept him — I just want him to become hafiz. He's my only son."

First time in my life I saw something like this: this 11-year-old put his arm around his mom and said, "Mom, it's okay, it's fine, don't worry. I'll become hafiz in a few months, I'll come home. I promise you, I'll be home soon." And I said, of course, we'll accept him. Now I'm sitting there thinking — Allah has given you an opportunity to help somebody. This is the biggest reward in the world. Such a ni'mah, that Allah has given you this opportunity. The kuffar of Makkah were saying, "Why didn't Allah just feed them Himself?" The fact is Allah gave you that gift — utilize it. Utilize the resources Allah has given you.

Then she said to me: "You know, there's one issue with him — he's sensitive to bad food." I said, "I understand." She looked at me and said, "How do you understand?" I said: my assumption is that every time he sees bad food, he remembers the shelter. And you don't want to be reminded of those places. Like a person who was in prison for 20 or 30 years doesn't want to wear brown or orange anymore, or eat canned food anymore — because whenever he sees it, he remembers the misery. If he sees bad food, cold food, or canned food, he starts to cry. And she said, "Exactly." AlhamdulIllah, we accepted him. Allah gave us an opportunity to take care of somebody.

The Brothers' Decision and Its Consequences

So these people said: our father was crazy. After he passed away, they said he used to spend way too much. The first thing we've got to do is stop giving to these poor people. One of the brothers said, "No, don't do that." He was the smart one. He said: Allah is giving us because we're giving sadaqah. And when the Prophet ﷺ was sitting in the masjid, there was a sahabi who used to always sit with him. When this man's brother came and said: "Ya Rasulallah ﷺ, my brother sits with you all day, he doesn't work, he comes home and eats food, then he comes back to your gathering and back home again — he's freeloading off of me. Send him to work." And the Prophet ﷺ looked at him and said, "Perhaps" — and when the Prophet ﷺ says perhaps, he means for certain — "you are being given rizq from Allah because of this person."

So they made an oath to stop giving to the poor and the orphans. The middle brother said, "Don't do that," but they convinced him. He went along with the plan. And then what happened?

While they were sleeping at night, Allah sent a punishment down upon this lush garden and destroyed everything. The orchard had become like a harvested, shredded crop by the morning. صَرِيم — completely cut apart, nothing there. That's how it was in the morning.

Look at how Allah describes these people. They woke up in the morning. It was a day of harvest — a day to reap the fruits of their labor. A tree doesn't grow overnight; they had made effort, effort, effort for so many months. Does that sound familiar? We make so much effort, so much effort, so much effort. Like someone who said: when I was in elementary school, I was dying to get to middle school. When I got to middle school, I was dying to get to high school. When I got to high school, I was dying to go to college. When I got to college, I was dying to get to medical school. When I got to medical school, I was dying for a residency. When I finished, I just wanted to get married. When I got married, I wanted a child. And then I was dying to retire. Now I'm dying — and I forgot to live.

Just one thing to the other to the other to the other. You actually forgot that you should just live and relax. It's in Allah's hands. You don't control anything.

Of course, Ali ibn Abi Talib says: la khayra illa li rajulayn — there is no khayr in this world except for two people. A person who commits a sin and is doing tawbah — this person is good. Even if you make mistakes, if after committing sins you are doing tawbah, you're good. And the other person is someone who is always looking at others — not at what they have in dunya, their homes, their cars, their wealth — but at those who are doing better than them in deen, and competing with them. That person is reading more than me, I've got to read more. She's praying more tahajjud than me, I've got to pray more. Competing in good — that's the best competition. That's true enjoyment.

Their Secret Plan Exposed

They said, "Let's go earlier — before anyone comes — so we can harvest all of our fruits before anybody shows up." And they quietly, secretly walked toward their garden so no one would see them.

"No needy person shall enter your presence today." And they proceeded with the thought that they had the power to withhold. SubhanAllah — think about that. They thought they could withhold just because it was in their account or in their pocket. That doesn't mean you have the power to withhold it. How many times — if this ever happens to you — someone comes to you for money and you have $40 in your pocket and you're unsure whether to give it. I can guarantee you're going to waste that $40. It's going to go somewhere that doesn't work out. Just because you had the thought of withholding and then put it away — you don't have the power of withholding. Allah gave it to you. Allah gave it to you to spend on others. Of course, wisely.

When They Saw What Remained

When they came to it and they saw it burnt to ashes, they said: "This can't be our garden. We must be in the wrong place." This also happens in our lives — not with gardens, but sometimes with our own family members. A husband or wife says: "You're not the person I married. What happened to you? You were so good when you were young."

And honestly, this is a statement of Ali ibn Abi Talib karramaAllahu wajhah: one of the effects of sins is that Allah takes the enjoyment of halal out of a person's life. The things that are halal — is it halal to live at home? Absolutely. Is it halal to play with your children? Absolutely. Is it halal to be with your wife? Absolutely. You should be enjoying these things. But most people nowadays are not excited to go back home. Because Allah has taken the enjoyment out of it.

After a little while they realized: "No — we are in the right place, but Allah has deprived us of the rizq that we had."

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22441; Ibn Majah, Hadith 4022)

A person — one of the effects of sins is that this person gets deprived of rizq that was written for him. You were supposed to get A, B, C this year. You commit a sin, and Allah says: I am taking C away from you. Things that were written for us — through our sins — Allah takes them from us.

Ibn Abbas says: O sinner, do not sit at peace after committing a sin, because the consequences of the sin that you have committed are far worse than the sin itself. One domino effect — two, three, four, five. The suffering that you have to go through after this is going to be worse. You will forget the enjoyment of that sin instantly — especially when you start seeing your rizq decreasing, when you start seeing the enjoyment of halal being removed from your life, when you start seeing barakah being snatched from you, when you start seeing people no longer loving you. You say: it wasn't really worth it. But then sometimes it's too late. And if Allah has blessed us, we do tawbah, and Allah erases those sins.

The Wisest Among Them Speaks

أَوْسَط means middle, but it really means the most sound of mind — the wisest one among them. He said: "Didn't I tell you? You should say — when you look at your garden, at your wealth":

There's another story in Surah Al-Kahf — the companion of the garden — where Allah says:

When you enter your garden, when you see your wealth, say: whatever Allah wills, He gives — and all power and might belongs to Allah. This is not mine, this is Allah's. Allah gave it to me. Allah is the one who will ask me about it on the Day of Judgment. Nothing belongs to me. You should have said that.

Another tafsir of this is: didn't I tell you that the more Allah gives you, the more grateful you should be? Abdullah ibn Mas'ud used to say that one night he stood all night in tahajjud. After fajr salah, one of his students asked him: "Ibn Mas'ud, you're a companion of the Prophet ﷺ — you've already made it. Why are you spending your entire night worshipping Allah?" And he said: every single time a person is given more, he should be even more humble. He should cry even more. He should make dua even more.

One time I was praying asr salah in a masjid in Pakistan, and this man stood next to me and was bawling — crying the whole asr salah. I said to myself: this person is a waliullah. How can you actually cry all through asr? And alhamdulillah I got to meet him later. And he told me that his older brother — who was in his 30s — was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. His mother was completely lost and so emotional. His father was so disturbed. He said: I know Allah is going to help me, so I cry every salah, asking Allah for help.

At that point I thought: before we have to shed tears of asking, we can shed tears of gratitude. Because we're going to end up crying somewhere. We might cry in regret over our sins, or cry in asking. But sometimes you can just cry because Allah has given us so much, and say: "Thank You for everything."

And this is a big sign of wellness — having an attitude of gratitude. Even if you might have less, you still have this attitude that Allah has given you so much. When the Prophet ﷺ came to the room of Aisha and said, "If you allow me, give me some moments with my Rabb." He started praying salah and crying all night. And before fajr, Aisha said: "Ya Rasulallah ﷺ, why are you crying all night? Didn't Allah forgive all of your past and future sins?" What did he say? "These are tears of gratitude. These are not tears of asking. They are not tears of nadama, of regret over sins." When's the last time we shed tears of gratitude? That we were so grateful we actually cried? That's real gratitude, brothers and sisters.

Circling Back: The Story of Yunus

A lot of times stories like this don't end on a good note. But these people had a little khayr in them. Qarun didn't have any khayr. The difference between Qarun and these people was one thing. Qarun also deprived the needy of his wealth. They also deprived the needy. But Qarun was arrogant — these men were not arrogant. That is the difference.

Right here, I circle back to the story of Yunus alayhi s-salam. The entire premise of the story of Yunus is:

He did not ask Allah to take him out of the whale. He did not say: "Oh Allah, please take me out, it's so hot in here." He simply confessed. Sometimes, just saying "I'm sorry" is enough. You know when you get into a fight or an argument? Sometimes all of that can go away if you just say, "My bad." And the first one to say "my bad" is the one whom Allah loves.

You know: al-badi'u bis-salam bari'un minal kibr — the first one to say the words of peace is free of arrogance. My bad. I'm sorry. That means you have no arrogance. This is what Allah is teaching us through the story of Yunus alayhi s-salam: إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ — "Oh Allah, I'm sorry. My bad, this happened to me." Allah loves that. Like a child says to his mother or father, "Mom, I'm sorry. Dad, I'm sorry. My bad." Your heart melts for that child.

In our school, we had a student who came late from home and then left without permission — we were thinking about suspending or expelling him. When he found out, he walked into the masjid where I was. This kid literally fell at my feet crying. "Mufti Sahib, I'm sorry. Forgive me." At that time my heart was so hard, I was so mad at this kid. I said, I do not want to see him. But all of that went away. I was about to cry in front of him if I hadn't left. That's all it took: "I'm sorry." You stay here, man. Become an alim, inshallah.

That's what they said first — before they even blamed each other. They said: we were wrong. What we did was wrong. They had some small khayr in them.

The Good Person Who Still Suffered

Now, wasn't there one good person among them? One of the brothers was good, right? But he also suffered. That tells you something. If you have a group of friends and they're about to do something wrong — you say, "Allah is watching, we shouldn't do this." And they say, "Come on, don't be a bad friend." And at the end of the day, you just go along — then you're going to suffer too. Your job is not just to tell the person. Your job is to make sure you don't do it. Because in this story, the good person still went along with the plan, and because of that, he also suffered.

A lot of times we are friends with people, we'll say the right thing, but then we'll do the wrong thing. We'll have to suffer too. So they started blaming each other. Then they said: stop pointing fingers. Because when something goes wrong, who should you blame? Yourself. Don't blame anybody else. Look at yourself — what you did. Because nobody else can mess up your day. Only you can mess up your day. No one else can do it.

If I'm eating sweets, soda, and sugar — will you get affected by it? No. I'll get affected by it. If I drink gallons and gallons of Coke, or eat buckets of ice cream, I'm going to suffer from it, not you. You never ate it. Similarly, if I go to the gym and you just sit there watching — someone working out amazing — will you get better from just watching? His exercise won't help you. Similarly with good or bad deeds. Why would you blame anybody else?

The Garden Replaced

So over here they said: we were wrong. And because they confessed, because they had some khayr in them, Allah said: I will replace them with a better garden. And Abdullah ibn Abbas says: Allah gave them such a garden that just a single vine of grapes would take a whole donkey to carry. Allah had given them so much. Their garden became even better than the one they had before.

And Allah can do that. Just as fast as Allah can take from you, Allah can give. So from this story we understand:

Lessons and Conclusion

First: Whatever resources Allah has given us is not for ourselves alone — it is for others as well. When the Prophet ﷺ was sitting and someone came asking for money, the Prophet gave. Another person came, the Prophet gave. A third person came and the Prophet had nothing left, so he asked for a loan and gave from that. When one of the Sahaba said: "Ya Rasulallah ﷺ, you've done what you can, you don't have to do this." Bilal radiyallahu anhu said:

(Al-Haythami, Majma' al-Zawa'id; referenced in the context of generosity of the Prophet ﷺ)

"O Prophet of Allah, keep spending and do not fear poverty from the One who is on top of the Arsh." Don't fear poverty from Allah — Allah will give you. And the Prophet ﷺ looked at Bilal and said: "Allah has made you speak that. He has spoken the truth."

Some of you sitting here may say: I don't have much money, I only have $100. Remember — percentages matter. The person who gives $10 out of $100 is the same as the person giving $1,000 out of $10,000. It's still 10%. It's a percentage, not an amount. It could be out of your wealth, your time, your health — these are all different means of sharing our resources. Don't look at the amount.

This is the story of Abu Bakr and Umar: when Umar came and gave all the wealth that he had, the Prophet ﷺ didn't ask how much he gave — he asked: "How much did you leave behind?" Umar said: "Half." Then Abu Bakr came and gave what seemed like very little. The Prophet asked: "How much did you leave behind?" He said: "Only Allah and His Rasul." And Umar said: from that day onwards, I realized I can never beat Abu Bakr. Because that's what matters — the proportion.

Second: Remember, the khayr that will come into our lives is through the sharing that we do. The more we do for the creation of Allah, the more Allah will give us. Once I asked my mother: "You had five kids, and mashaAllah they became huffaz and they were righteous. But you know how difficult it is to raise children in America — all these distractions. What was the trick?" And you know what she said? "It was through the duas of others." One thing is your own duas, and another is winning the duas of others. Imagine that lady who brought her child and we accepted him — imagine how much dua she is making for us. You don't even have to ask her. Just doing something for her is enough.

Third: If anything goes sideways, the first thing you should do is — confess. I'm sorry. That's what we should do.

And lastly: Let's have an attitude of gratitude — in a sense where sometimes we wake up at night, pray our salah, and reflect: we should be grateful in the moments when we have ni'mahs, so that Allah increases those ni'mahs. Otherwise, through our sins, Allah can take those ni'mahs away. When we are about to commit a sin, remember: that sin could be at the expense of one ni'mah being taken from me. Is it worth it?

This story is in Surah Al-Qalam — the second surah in the 29th juz. Take this back home. Learn from the reflections. May Allah make us among those who are generous with our resources, who are not arrogant about the ni'mahs and gifts of Allah, who always look back to Allah and confess our mistakes and sins, and who — if something happens between us and others — are the first ones to say, "My bad."

May Allah make us among those who are under the shade of His Arsh on the Day of Judgment, and with the Prophets alayhim al-salam.