And present to them an example of two men: We granted to one of them two gardens of grapevines, and We bordered them with palm trees and placed between them [fields of] crops. Each of the two gardens produced its fruit and did not fall short thereof in anything. And We caused to gush forth within them a river. And he had fruit, so he said to his companion while he was conversing with him, "I am greater than you in wealth and mightier in [numbers of] men." And he entered his garden while he was unjust to himself. He said, "I do not think that this will perish - ever. And I do not think the Hour will occur. And even if I should be brought back to my Lord, I will surely find better than this as a return." His companion said to him while he was conversing with him, "Have you disbelieved in He who created you from dust and then from a sperm-drop and then proportioned you [as] a man? But as for me, He is Allaah, my Lord, and I do not associate with my Lord anyone. And why did you, when you entered your garden, not say, 'What Allaah willed [has occurred]; there is no power except in Allaah '? Although you see me less than you in wealth and children, It may be that my Lord will give me [something] better than your garden and will send upon it a calamity from the sky, and it will become a smooth, dusty ground, Or its water will become sunken [into the earth], so you would never be able to seek it." And his fruits were encompassed [by ruin], so he began to turn his hands about [in dismay] over what he had spent on it, while it had collapsed upon its trellises, and said, "Oh, I wish I had not associated with my Lord anyone." And there was for him no company to aid him other than Allaah , nor could he defend himself. [18:32-43]
Tip of the day:
Stories in the Qur’aan are not for entertainment. Reflect on the lessons and try to think about how it applies in your life. Think about the details and contemplate about how the details make the story richer and the lessons more meaningful.
Comments
In any event, either the man's du'aa was accepted or what he anticipated came to pass.
Well, Allaah's words : فَعَسَى رَبِّي أَنْ يُؤْتِيَنِ خَيْراً مِنْ جَنَّتِكَ... ( It may be that my Lord will give me [something] better than your garden...) can perhaps be understood in one of two ways:
1. The man was making du'aa against the one boasting. This is permissible if he was doing so for some benefit (in this case that he realizes his wrong and turns back to Allaah) or because he was returning "tit for tat". That is, the one boasting wronged him by bragging and belittling him so he prayed against him in a similar manner.
So in all his arrogance and over confidence, he still has doubt and is not speaking with absolute certainty. However, some today are even worse as they have the audacity to make emphatic statements. (i.e. About the last day etc...)
May Allaah give us the tawfeeq to be grateful to Him for the MANY favours, and may he enable us to always remember Him and be grateful to Him in the best of ways so that He NEVER abandons us!
a. The water is described as sunken. If the water evaporated, he could hope for rain. But here the water is sunken… where can he find it now?
b. We can picture the grapevines, full of fruit and then we can picture the vines collapsing in ruin.
9) I found it interesting that when this ruin is described, it begins with the friend conversing with him and cautioning him of what might happen, and then it is a reality… I am not sure I understand that part.
10) When he loses everything, he is upset at how much he invested in it. Where are we investing?
11) When he is filled with regret, he refers to his action as shirk. He was not worshipping any of this wealth, yet this action is referred to as shirk. So attributing so much as a blessing to other than Allaah is so grave.
7) We get another reminder. This man reminds his friend, that you may PERCEIVE you are more fortunate, but the really important perception is how Allaah perceives us. Someone may be so ‘successful’ in duniya terms, but maybe Allaah is only testing him to see what he does with his wealth. And the person most beloved to Allaah may be an anonymous soul who is humble and remembering Allaah, we don’t even know him, but Allaah does!
5) The man was so arrogant and over-confident that he denied the hour would come. What about us? Don’t we live like we will never die? We invest in the duniya, buying houses, saving money, as if we have to make it last forever.
3) This man did not stop at being arrogant, but went on to belittle his friend, making comparisons. What about us? My house has a swimming pool and a tennis court, my son has 2 degrees and such a good job, I have the perfect life.
a. The garden had grapevines, palm trees and crops. He had diversified his yield, so if it was not the season for one, it was the season for another. If there was no demand for the crop, there may be for grapes. So he could pretty much be sure of some business throughout the year.
b. He had a river in his own land. So he did not need to pay for water, nor depend on any supplier.
I guess we could compare this in present times to a permanent job in a major company, if we have that, we think we are ‘set’, good salary, good benefits, job ‘security’. It is so easy to forget that it is Allaah providing for us when we live in a society and environment where most people rely on a job as if it is the job providing for us. I can admit I am often guilty of this.
RSS feed for comments to this post