like the fiery whirlwind that burns up the garden he planted through his obedience and righteous deeds.
If someone who disobeys Allah after obeying Him truly pictured this meaning and reflected upon it as he should, then, by Allah, his soul would never entice him to burn up his righteous deeds and squander them. Yet when he sins, his awareness of this is inevitably absent. Hence he deserves to be called ignorant: everyone who disobeys Allah is ignorant.
If it is asked: Is “and” in Allah’s statement, “and old age has overtaken him,” circumstantial or coordinating? If it is coordinating, to what does it join the clause that follows?
I reply: There are two interpretations.
The first is that it introduces a circumstantial clause. This is the interpretation preferred by al-Zamakhsharī. The meaning is: Would any of you wish to have a garden with such-and-such qualities while he is elderly and his offspring are weak?
The second is that it coordinates the clauses according to their underlying meaning. A verb expressing a wish—as in His words, “Would any of you wish”—often concerns the past. Thus the meaning is: Would any of you wish that he had owned a garden of date palms and grapevines, that old age had overtaken him, and that what has been described had then befallen it?
Consider how He, glorified is He, likened the person who spends to show off, whose spending does not spring from faith, to a smooth rock covered with soil. Nothing grew on it at all; rather, his seed was wasted because he lacked faith and sincerity. He then likened someone who obeyed Allah with intentions sincerely devoted to Him, but subsequently experienced something that nullified his reward, to one of the finest, most delightful, and most flourishing gardens. Then He unleashed the fiery whirlwind upon it, burning it up. In this latter case, something had grown for him, and his deeds had borne fruit, but he then burned it up. The first, however, never obtained anything for the fire to consume.
Blessed is He who made His speech a source of life for hearts, a healing for what is within the breasts, and guidance and mercy for the believers.
[Surah al-Baqarah (2): verse 267]
“O you who believe, spend from the good things you have earned and from what We have brought forth for you from the earth. Do not select the inferior things to give, when you yourselves would accept them only by overlooking their defects. And know that Allah is Free of need, Praiseworthy.” (267)