The Story of the People of the Garden

Allah the Exalted says:

“Indeed, We have tried them just as We tried the owners of the garden, when they swore, ‘We will surely pick its fruit at dawn, and we will make no exception.’
So a visitation from your Lord swept over it while they were asleep,
and by morning it was as though harvested bare.
Then at daybreak they called to one another:
‘Go early to your field, if you would gather its fruit.’
So they set out, speaking in hushed tones:
‘Let no poor man enter it upon you today.’
They went forth, resolved and confident.
But when they saw it, they said, ‘We have certainly lost our way—no, rather we have been deprived!’
The most reasonable among them said, ‘Did I not tell you, “Why do you not glorify Allah?”’
They said, ‘Glory be to our Lord! Truly, we have been wrongdoers.’
Then they turned to one another, reproaching each other, saying,
‘Woe to us! We were indeed transgressors.
Perhaps our Lord will give us something better in its place; surely we turn to our Lord in hope.’
Such is the punishment; yet the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if only they knew.”
[al-Qalam 17–33]

This parable Allah struck for the disbelievers of Quraysh regarding the favor He granted them by sending to them the great and noble Messenger. They met that blessing with denial and opposition, just as the Exalted said:
“Have you not seen those who exchanged the grace of Allah for disbelief and led their people to the abode of ruin—Hell, in which they will burn? How wretched is that settlement!” [Ibrāhīm 28–29]

Ibn ʿAbbās said: They are the disbelievers of Quraysh. Allah therefore set before them the example of the owners of the garden, a land full of various crops and fruits that had ripened and were ready to be picked—that is the time of harvest. Hence His words, “when they swore among themselves, ‘We will surely harvest it,’” meaning: they would gather its produce and profit from it, “at dawn,” so that no poor or needy person would see them and receive anything. They swore to this without adding, “if Allah wills.” Allah therefore incapacitated them and sent upon the garden a blight that burned it—a scorching wind that consumed everything of value.

Thus He said, “A visitation from your Lord swept over it while they slept, and by morning it was as though harvested bare,” like a pitch-black night from which all light has departed—a requital opposite to their intention.

“Then at daybreak they called to one another”: they awoke, each summoning the other and saying, “Go early to your orchard and cut its fruit before the day rises and the beggars multiply.” “So they set out, whispering to one another,” speaking secretly: “Let no poor person enter it upon you today.” They agreed and consulted together on that plan. “And they went forth, resolved and confident”—pressing on with determination, certain of their ability, yet hiding this corrupt intention within.

ʿIkrimah and al-Shaʿbī said: “They went forth ‘ʿalā ḥardin’” means in anger toward the poor.

Al-Suddi, however, went far in saying that the word is the name