(17–33) “Indeed, We tested them as We tested the owners of the garden, when they swore that they would surely harvest it in the morning, without making any exception. Then a visitation from your Lord swept over it while they were asleep.”
To the end of the account. Allah Most High says: We tested these deniers with prosperity, granted them respite, and supplied them as We willed with wealth, children, long life, and other things that accorded with their desires. This was not because they were honored by Us; rather, it may have been a means of drawing them gradually toward destruction without their realizing it (1). Their delusion in this regard was like that of the owners who shared the garden. When its fruits flourished, its trees ripened, and the time for harvesting arrived, they were certain that it was within their grasp and entirely at their disposal, [and that] nothing could prevent them from obtaining it. They therefore swore an oath, without making any exception, that they would harvest it—that is, gather its fruit—early in the morning. They did not know that Allah was watching them and that punishment would overtake the garden and reach it before they did.
“Then a visitation from your Lord swept over it”—that is, a punishment descended upon it by night—“while they were asleep,” utterly destroying and ruining it. “By morning it was like the dark night”; that is, its trees and fruits had vanished. All this occurred while they were unaware of the calamity that had befallen them. Thus, when morning came, they called out to one another, each saying to the others: “‘Go early to your crop, if you intend to harvest.’ So they set out,” heading toward it (2), “speaking to one another in hushed voices” about withholding Allah’s due. They said, “Let no poor person enter it today against you.” In other words, they set out early before people had begun to disperse, while urging one another to deny the poor and needy. So intense were their greed and miserliness that they whispered these words in utmost secrecy, fearing that someone might overhear them and inform the poor.
“And they went forth in the morning,” in this reprehensible state of hard-heartedness and lack of mercy, “intent upon withholding and confident of their power”—that is, resolved to withhold and deny Allah’s due, fully certain that they had the power to do so.
“But when they saw it” in the state Allah had described, like the dark night, “they said,” in bewilderment and alarm, “We have surely lost our way”—[that is, we have strayed] from it; perhaps this was a different garden. But when they recognized it and regained their senses, they said, “Rather, we have been deprived of it.” They then realized that this was a punishment. “The most equitable of them said”—that is, the fairest and most upright among them—“Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not glorify Allah?’” That is, why do you not declare Allah transcendent above everything unbefitting Him? This includes your belief that your power was independent. If only you had made an exception by saying, “If Allah wills,” and made your will subordinate to Allah’s will, what befell you would not have occurred. They then said, “Glory be to our Lord! Indeed, we were wrongdoers.” In other words, they sought to correct their wrong afterward, but only after their garden had suffered a punishment that could not be lifted. Perhaps, however, this glorification of Allah and their admission that they had done wrong would lessen their burden of sin and count as repentance. They therefore felt profound remorse.
“Then they turned upon one another, blaming each other” for what they had set in motion and done.
“They said, ‘Woe to us! We were truly transgressors’”—that is, they had exceeded the bounds regarding the rights of Allah and the rights of His servants.
“Perhaps our Lord will replace it with something better. Indeed, we turn to our Lord in hope.” They hoped that Allah would replace it with something better and pledged that they would turn earnestly to Allah and persist in entreating Him in this world. If they were true to their words, it appears that Allah replaced it for them in this world with something better, for whoever sincerely calls upon Allah, turns to Him with longing, and places his hope in Him will be granted what he asks.
Allah Most High says, explaining (3) what occurred: “Such is the punishment”—[that is,] the worldly punishment of one who incurs the causes of punishment: Allah takes away from a servant the very thing through which he transgressed, acted tyrannically, and preferred the life of this world, removing it precisely when he needs it most.
“And the punishment of the Hereafter is greater” than the punishment of this world, “if only they knew.” For one who knows this will necessarily be deterred from every cause that entails torment and brings punishment (4).