The Noble Quran English Translation and Tafsir of Surah Al-Qalam Ayah 17-33
68:17 Verily, We have tried them, as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck its fruit in the morning.
68:18 And they made no reservation.
68:19 Then, a visitation from your Lord visited it while they were asleep.
68:20 Then, it became as if it were a dark night.
68:21 Then, they called one another in the morning,
68:22 ‘Go early to your crop if you want to pluck the fruit.’
68:23 Then, they set forth, whispering to one another,
68:24 ‘No needy man shall enter your garden today.’
68:25 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose.
68:26 Then, when they saw it, they said, ‘Surely we are astray;
68:27 rather, we are deprived.’
68:28 The most moderate of them said, ‘Did I not say to you, ‘Why do you not glorify Allah’?
68:29 They said, ‘Glory be to our Lord! Indeed, we were unjust.’
68:30 Then, they turned to one another, reproaching each other.
68:31 They said, ‘Woe to us! Indeed, we were transgressors.
68:32 It may be that our Lord will give us one better than it; truly, we turn to our Lord with hope.’
68:33 Such is the punishment and the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they but knew.
Relationship with the Previous Part
The previous part mentions that the disbelievers deny Allah’s blessings on them though He is the Giver of all blessings, they also become insolent and arrogant because of the wealth and children they have. Then, this part mentions an example that illustrates the attitude of the wealthy toward the needy. Allah has given them wealth and commanded them to give the needy their rights in it; however, they disregard Allah’s command. The result of which is loss in the life of this world and the Hereafter, if they do not repent of their sins, ask Allah for forgiveness, and perform righteous deeds for Allah’s sake.
Tafsir
68:17 Verily, We have tried them, as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck its fruit in the morning.
Imam Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, said, ‘This is an example that Allah mentions for the disbelievers of Quraysh concerning the great blessing that He gave them by sending Muhammad as His Prophet and Messenger to them to invite them to worship Him alone. However, their attitude was hostile. They disbelieved in Messenger Muhammad and the message that Allah revealed to him as well as they met him with abuse and aggression. Therefore, Allah says, [Verily, We have tried them], namely, the disbelievers of Quraysh, [as We tried the owners of the garden], the owners of the Garden.
The scholars of Tafsir mention that there was a man, who owned a garden, in Yemen, and he was a believer. He used to take his need from the product of the garden and give the reminder as charity to the needy. Then, he died and left the garden for his three sons. They said, ‘Bay Allah, indeed, the wealth is meager and our children are many. Our father used to give some of his wealth as a charity because his wealth was considerable and his children were few.’ Now, we cannot do as he used to do. Thus, they decided to deprive the needy of their rights. They swore to go to their garden early in the morning and harvest its product before the coming of the needy.
68:17 Verily, We have tried them, as We tried the owners of the garden when they swore they would pluck its fruit in the morning.
Verily, Allah has tried the disbelievers of Makkah by afflicting them with drought and famine because they disbelieved in His Oneness and His Messenger Muhammad, as He tried the owners of the garden. Allah destroyed their garden because of their greediness and refusal to give the needy their rights that Allah made obligatory on them to give.
The owner of the garden swore that they would pluck the fruit of their garden early in the morning so that they would be able to gather the crops before the coming of the needy.
It appears that the disbelievers of Makkah knew the story of the owners of the garden. Therefore, Allah, Exalted be He, mentions it so that they might learn lessons from it.
The similarity between the people of Makkah and the owners of the garden is that Allah gave both parties great blessings, but they met them with ingratitude and ungratefulness.
In other words, Allah tried the people of Makkah by afflicting them with adversity, just as He tried the owners of the garden, who made a solemn oath to pluck the harvest of their garden in the morning to deprive the needy of their rights.
68:18 And they made no reservation.
When the owners of the garden swore to harvest the fruit of their garden early in the morning, they made no reservation of some of the product to the needy and they even did not say, ‘We shall harvest the fruit, God willing.’ They were highly confident and acted as if they would be able to carry out their scheme as they planned and no obstacle would hinder it.
68:19 Then, a visitation from your Lord visited it while they were asleep.
68:20 Then, it became as if it were a dark night.
The owners of the garden made a solemn oath to harvest the fruit of the garden early in the morning so that the needy would find nothing when they should come. However, the divine scheme is greater than that of the created beings. They reaped the evil consequence of their evil intention. A visiting of punishment from Allah came to the garden and destroyed it. The garden became a burned land and nothing could be found on its surface. After the garden was green and beautiful, it became black like a dark night so that nothing can be seen through its darkness. Thus, there remained nothing; no garden, no tree, and no fruits.
It is an extremely terrifying scene. In the twinkling of an eye, the garden with its beautiful and abundant harvest was destroyed. Indeed, Allah’s punishment is severe. Verily, Allah’s punishment will befall the wrongdoers.
The Quran does not mention what kind of punishment befell the garden and how it befell it. This agrees with the unique style of the Quran that focuses on the most important information in the stories and leaves unnecessary details to the imagination of the reader. It aims to bring home the intended lesson and skip insignificant information.
Imam Al-Qurtubi, may Allah have mercy on him, said, ‘Ayah 19 & 20 is evidence that one will be called to account for his deliberate intention. That is because the owners of the gardens deliberately intended to take a certain action. Thus, they were punished for it.’
68:21 Then, they called one another in the morning,
68:22 ‘Go early to your crop if you want to pluck the fruit.’
The Quran eloquently portrays how the owners of the gardens carried out their evil plan to deprive the needy of their rights in the harvest of the garden. It vividly describes their feelings and movements that makes one feels as if he sees them determent to carry out their scheme.
The owners of the garden called one another early in the morning so that no one would hear or see them. They said, ‘Go early to your crop to pluck it early in the morning so no one can see us.’
Then, the context of the ayat continues mocking them and depicts them as they were walking and whispering to one another so no one could hear their plan to harvest the fruit early in the morning and deprive the needy of their rights in it.
68:23 Then, they set forth, whispering to one another,
68:24 ‘No needy man shall enter your garden today.’
The owners of the garden set forth to their garden, whispering to one another. They said to one another, ‘Beware of letting any needy man enter your garden while you are harvesting its fruits.’
68:25 And they went forth early, determined upon their purpose.
The owners of the garden went forth early to their garden, determined upon their purpose to deprive the needy of their rights. They were certain that they would be able to carry out their scheme because they took all necessary measures to fulfill it, namely, setting forth to the garden early before the arrival of the needy. Thus, they thought that nothing could stop them and prevent them from carrying out their plan.
Greediness blinded the hearts of the owner of the garden so that they could not understand that they were not depriving the needy of their rights; rather, they were depriving themselves of the blessing that they would attain when they would give the needy their rights.
68:26 Then, when they saw it, they said, ‘Surely we are astray;
68:27 rather, we are deprived.’
The owners of the garden saw the surprise awaiting them. They saw that their garden was destroyed and became like a dark night and nothing can be seen through its darkness. The surprise was dramatic. Therefore, they thought that they lost their way to their garden and said, ‘Surely, we are astray and this ruined garden is not ours. Our garden is full of ripe fruits.’
After a moment, they began to realize that it was their garden and that it was destroyed. Therefore, they said, ‘Rather, we are deprived of our garden and its fruits because of our insistence on depriving the needy of their rights that Allah has given them.’
68:28 The most moderate of them said, ‘Did I not say to you, ‘Why do you not glorify Allah’?
After the owners of the garden saw the destruction that befell their garden, one of them spoke. It is as if he disagreed with their opinion, but he was compelled to yield to their opinion and did not insist on his viewpoint when he saw that his opinion was unpopular among his brothers. Therefore, he reminded his brothers of his advice, which they disregarded.
The most moderate and most righteous of the brothers said to them, ‘I told you that your intention to deprive the needy of their rights that Allah gave them was wrong. I told you to reserve some of the garden’s fruit for the needy and say that you would harvest it if God willed that would happen. I told you to fear Allah and refrain from carrying out your plan, and do as our father used to do by giving the needy their rights, but you ignored my advice. Thus, you see the evil consequence of ignoring my advice. Our garden is destroyed and we are deprived of its fruit. You see the negative fruit of your evil scheme.’
68:29 They said, ‘Glory be to our Lord! Indeed, we were unjust.’
Just as most people realize the value of something they had after losing it, the owners of the garden admitted their wrongdoing. Therefore, they said, ‘Glory be to our Lord! His punishment, namely, destroying our garden, is just and we deserve it. Indeed, we were unjust when we determined to deprive the needy of their rights. We wronged ourselves by withholding Allah’s right from those who deserve it.’
68:30 Then, they turned to one another, reproaching each other.
Just as the partners disclaim responsibility for the losses of their partnership and blame one another for incurring the loss, the owners of the garden began to blame and reproach one another for the evil consequence of their unrighteous plan.
68:31 They said, ‘Woe to us! Indeed, we were transgressors.
68:32 It may be that our Lord will give us one better than it; truly, we turn to our Lord with hope.’
After denial and blaming one another, the owners of the garden, admitted their wrongdoing and sought Allah’s forgiveness. They said, ‘Woe to us! Indeed, we were transgressors by transgressing Allah’s limits. We disobeyed His commands and were determined to deprive the needy of their rights that Allah gave them instead of thanking Him for His blessings by giving some of the fruits of our garden to the needy. We hope that Allah will forgive us our sins and give us a better garden than the ruined one. Truly, we turn to our Lord, hoping for His bounty, and we turn to Him in repentance of our sins.’
68:33 Such is the punishment and the punishment of the Hereafter is greater if they but knew.
The story of the owners of the garden is concluded with mentioning the learned lesson from it.
Such is the punishment of Allah, with which He punished the owners of the garden, namely, destroying their gardens because they denied Allah’s blessings on them and refused to give the needy their rights that Allah assigned for them. Such is the punishment of Allah that will befall those who disobey His commands and are ungrateful for His countless blessings. And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater and severer than that of the punishment that befell the owners of the gardens if the disbelievers knew that. If the disbelievers had sound understanding, they would know that Allah's punishment is severe, so they would fear it, believe in His Oneness, and obey His commands. However, the disbelievers are heedless. And they will understand the evil fruits of their disbelief when it is too late.
Reflecting on the story of the owners of the garden, one finds that it wonderfully shows some aspects of the human soul. It depicts the condition of the human soul when it is rich and poor, when it is endowed with blessings, and when it loses it. In addition, the story of the owners of the garden mentions the end of those who are ungrateful for Allah’s blessings. Indeed, unthankfulness and heedlessness lead to loss in the life of this world and the Hereafter.
Learned Lessons from Surah Al-Qalam Ayah 17-33
• The life of this world is the home of affliction and testing. Allah, Exalted be He, afflicted and tested the owners of the garden and people of Makkah. He gave them blessings to thank Him, and not to be arrogant. Hence, when they became ungrateful for Allah’s blessings, He punished them.
• Affliction may take the form of a happy or miserable condition. The happiest people are those who are thankful at times of comfort and patient at times of affliction.
• It is worthwhile to remind of the stories of those who were afflicted and enjoyed comfortable life to learn from them how to be thankful and patient.
• The righteousness of parents benefits their believing children. The owners of the garden benefited from the righteousness of their father, who used to give some of the fruits of the garden to the needy as charity. A sign of benefiting from his righteousness is that they repented of their sin and amended their way.
• It is recommended to say, ‘God willing’ when taking an oath to be on the safe side and protect one from any negative consequence in case he fails to fulfill his oath.
• It is a good practice to give those, who may attend harvesting crops, some of it to please them and attain Allah’s blessing.
• Man will be called to account if he determines to sin. The owners of the garden determined to deprive the needy of their rights. Therefore, they were punished by destroying their garden.
• No matter how intelligent man may be, he is weak when it comes to his opinion and planning. The owners of the garden carefully planned to deprive the needy of the fruits of their garden. They were certain that their scheme would be successful, but Allah’s plan is unsurpassable. They were surprised when they found that their garden was destroyed and their scheme vanished like a speck of dust vanish in a twinkling of an eye.
• When the owners of the garden realized that their garden was ruined, they understood their mistake and knew that their plan to deprive the needy of their rights was wrong, but it was too late.
• The owners of the garden disregarded the advice of their moderate brother, who advised them to glorify Allah, thank Him for His blessings, and repent to Him of their sins.
• Partners of unrighteous scheme usually blame one another when their plan fails.
• The owners of the garden admitted their mistake, repented to Allah of their sin, and sought His forgiveness.
• Allah’s punishment is severe. He will punish the wrongdoers in the life of this world and the Hereafter.
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