their field.

When they reached it and looked upon what had happened to it—how it had turned from former freshness, beauty, and delight into a loathsome sight, all because of their corrupt intention—they said, “We have certainly lost our way,” meaning, “We have missed the place and taken the wrong path.”

Then they added, “No—rather, we have been deprived,” that is, we have been punished for our evil aim and denied the blessing of our harvest.

“The most reasonable of them said”—Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, and many others explained this as the fairest and best among them—“Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not glorify Allah’?” Mujāhid, al-Suddi, and Ibn Jarīr understood this to mean: “Why did you not add, ‘if Allah wills’?” Others said he meant: “Why did you not speak good instead of the evil you uttered?”

They replied, “Glory be to our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers.” Then they turned upon one another, blaming each other, and said, “Woe to us! We were indeed transgressors.” Their remorse came when it could no longer benefit them; they admitted their sin only after the punishment had fallen—at a time when confession avails nothing.

It is reported that these men were brothers who had inherited the orchard from their father. Their father used to give abundant charity from it, but when it passed to them they disapproved of his practice and sought to exploit it without giving the poor a share. Allah therefore afflicted them with the severest punishment.

For this reason Allah has commanded charity from produce and urged it on the day of harvesting, as He says: “Eat of its fruit when it ripens, and give its due on the day of harvest” (al-Anʿām 141).

It is also said that they were from Yemen, from a village called Darawān; others held that they were from Abyssinia. Allah knows best.

Allah the Exalted says: “Such is the punishment”—thus do We chastise those who disobey Our command and show no compassion to the needy among Our servants—“whereas the punishment of the Hereafter is greater,” meaning more severe and more perfect than the punishment of this world, “if only they knew.”

Their story resembles His words: “Allah sets forth the example of a town that was secure and at ease; its provision came to it abundantly from every place, but it denied the favors of Allah, so Allah made it taste the garment of hunger and fear because of what they used to do. A messenger from among themselves had come to them, but they rejected him; so the punishment seized them while they were wrongdoers” (al-Naḥl 112–113). Some said this parable refers to the people of Mecca; others said it is the people of Mecca themselves, likened to themselves—and the two views do not conflict. Allah knows best.