(15–21) “There was indeed a sign for Sheba in their dwelling place: two gardens, one to the right and one to the left. ‘Eat from your Lord’s provision and give thanks to Him—a good land and a forgiving Lord.’ * But they turned away, so We sent against them the Flood of al-Arim and replaced their two gardens with two producing bitter fruit, tamarisks, and a few lote trees. * Thus We repaid them for their disbelief. Do We punish any but the utterly ungrateful? * Between them and the towns We had blessed, We placed towns within sight of one another and determined the stages of travel between them: ‘Travel through them safely by night and day.’ * But they said, ‘Our Lord, lengthen the distances between our journeys,’ and they wronged themselves. So We made them into tales and scattered them completely. Surely in that are signs for everyone who is steadfast and grateful. * Iblis’s conjecture about them proved true, and they followed him, except for a group of believers. * Yet he had no authority over them; it was only so that We might distinguish those who believe in the Hereafter from those who are in doubt about it. Your Lord is ever watchful over all things.”
Sheba was a well-known tribe in lower Yemen, and their home was a town called Marib. Among Allah’s gracious favors and kindness toward people in general, and toward the Arabs in particular, is that He related in the Quran the accounts of those who were destroyed and punished from among the peoples who had lived near the Arabs, whose ruins they could see and whose stories people passed down. This made such accounts more readily believable and more effective as admonition. Thus He said: “There was indeed a sign for Sheba in their dwelling place”—that is, in the place where they lived. The “sign” here was the blessings Allah lavished upon them and the afflictions He warded off from them, which required them to worship Allah and give thanks to Him.
He then explained this sign by saying: “Two gardens, one to the right and one to the left.” They had a vast valley into which many torrents flowed. They had built a strong dam to collect the water, so the torrents would flow into it and an immense quantity of water would gather there. They then distributed it among their orchards on the right and left sides of the valley. Those two vast gardens yielded enough fruit for them, bringing them happiness and delight. Allah therefore commanded them to give thanks for the blessings He had lavished upon them in many ways. Among them were these two gardens, from which most of their food came.
Another was that Allah had made their homeland a good land because of its pleasant climate, its healthfulness, and the abundant provision found there.
Another was that Allah Most High promised that, if they gave thanks to Him, He would forgive them and have mercy upon them. Hence He said: “A good land and a forgiving Lord.”
Another was that Allah knew that their trade and livelihoods required them to travel to the blessed land—the apparent view is that this means [the villages of Sanaa, as stated by more than one of the early scholars; it was also said that it means] Greater Syria. He therefore provided the means by which they could reach it with the utmost ease: they enjoyed security and freedom from fear, while the towns between them and that land formed an unbroken chain, so they did not face the hardship of carrying provisions and waterskins.
Hence He said: “Between them and the towns We had blessed, We placed towns within sight of one another and determined the stages of travel between them”—that is, a [journey] with known and measured stages by which they could navigate without losing their way—“Travel through them safely by night and day,” meaning that they could travel during those nights and days in reassurance and without fear. The completeness of Allah’s blessing upon them included His granting them security from fear.
Yet they turned away from their Benefactor and from worshipping Him. They responded to the blessing with insolent ingratitude and grew weary of it, to the point that they asked and wished for the distances between those towns—through which travel had been easy—to be lengthened.
“They wronged themselves” through their disbelief in Allah and their ingratitude for His blessing. Allah Most High therefore punished them by taking away the very blessing that had made them insolent, utterly destroying it. He sent upon it the Flood of al-Arim—that is, a violent flood that destroyed their dam, ruined their gardens, and devastated their orchards. Those gardens with their delightful groves and fruit-bearing trees were transformed, and in their place grew trees of no benefit. Hence He said: “We replaced their two gardens with two producing bitter fruit”—that is, a small amount of produce that gave them no satisfaction—“tamarisks, and a few lote trees.” All of these are well-known kinds of trees. This punishment corresponded to the nature of their deeds.
Just as they exchanged beautiful gratitude for hideous disbelief, their former blessing was exchanged for what He mentioned. Hence He said: “Thus We repaid them for their disbelief. Do We punish any but the utterly ungrateful?” That is: In light of the context, do We inflict punitive recompense upon anyone other than those who disbelieve in Allah and respond to blessings with insolent ingratitude?
When what befell them had befallen them, they dispersed ⦗678⦘ and were scattered after once having been united. Allah made them the subject of tales and evening stories among the people. Their dispersal even became proverbial, and it was said, “They scattered in every direction, like Sheba.” Everyone spoke of what had happened to them, but none benefited from the lesson of their fate except those whom Allah described: “Surely in that are signs for everyone who is steadfast and grateful.” Such a person remains steadfast through hardship and adversity, enduring them for Allah’s sake. He does not resent them but bears them patiently. He is grateful for Allah Most High’s blessings: he acknowledges and recognizes them, praises the One who bestowed them, and uses them in obedience to Him.
When such a person hears their story and what they did and what consequently befell them, he understands that this punishment was the recompense for their ingratitude toward Allah’s blessing; that whoever acts as they did will be treated as they were; that gratitude to Allah Most High preserves blessings and wards off affliction; that Allah’s messengers are truthful in what they report; and that recompense is a reality, just as he has seen an example of it in this world.
He then mentioned that the people of Sheba were among those concerning whom Iblis’s conjecture proved true. Iblis had said to his Lord: “By Your might, I will surely lead them all astray, except Your sincere servants among them.” This was merely a conjecture on Iblis’s part, not certainty, for he does not know the unseen, nor had any report come to him from Allah that he would lead them all astray apart from those he excluded. These people, and others like them, were among those concerning whom Iblis’s conjecture proved true: he called them and led them astray, “and they followed him, except for a group of believers”—those who did not disbelieve in Allah’s blessing and therefore did not fall within Iblis’s conjecture.
It is also possible that the account of Sheba ends with the words: “Surely in that are signs for everyone who is steadfast and grateful.”
A new statement would then begin: “Iblis’s conjecture about them proved true,” meaning the human race in general. The verse would thus apply generally to everyone who follows him.
Allah Most High then said: “Yet he had no authority over them”—that is, Iblis had no dominion over them by which he could subjugate, overpower, or compel them to do what he wanted. Rather, Allah Most High’s wisdom required that he be allowed to tempt the children of Adam and make evil seem appealing to them.
“It was only so that We might distinguish those who believe in the Hereafter from those who are in doubt about it.” That is, so that the trial might take place and the truthful be distinguished from the liar; and so that those whose faith was sound—remaining firm when tried and tested and when satanic doubts were cast at them—might be distinguished from those whose faith was unstable, shaken by the slightest doubt and removed by the faintest call toward its opposite. Allah Most High made him a test by which He tests His servants and distinguishes the wicked from the good.
“Your Lord is ever watchful over all things.” He watches over His servants, records all their deeds, and preserves their recompense, which He will grant them in full, without diminution.