Surah Al-Kahf 18:32-44 - Quran Translation Commentary

(18:32) Strike for them a similitude of two men: To one of them We provided two orchards of grapevines, and surrounded them with palm-trees. And We set amidst the two, sown field.

(18:33) Each of the two orchards yielded its produce, failing not thereof in the least. And We caused a spring to gush forth within them.

(18:34) So he had fruit.⁵⁵ He said to his companion, as he was conversing with him,⁵⁶ ‘I am more of wealth than you and larger in numbers.’

(18:35) He went into his orchard wronging himself.⁵⁷ He said, ‘I do not think this will ever perish. And I do not reckon the Hour will strike.

(18:36) And, even if I am returned to my Lord, I shall surely find better than this as a retreat.’⁵⁸

(18:37) His companion said to him, as he carried on the conversation with him, ‘Do you deny Him who⁵⁹ created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, and then fashioned you into a man?’⁶⁰

(18:38) But, for my part, Allah is my Lord, and I shall never associate anyone with my Lord.

(18:39) What if, when you entered your orchard, had said, “What Allah willed! There is no power except in Allah.”⁶¹ If you see me that I am less than you in wealth and progeny,

(18:40) Then, it may be that my Lord will grant me better than your orchard⁶² and loosen upon it a thunderbolt out of heaven,⁶³ so that it is rendered a dusty slippery ground.

(18:41) Or its water gets sunk deep underground, so that you are never able to seek it.’

(18:42) And its fruit was encompassed⁶⁴ so that by morning he was wringing his hands over what he had spent on it, while it lay fallen on its trellises, he muttering, ‘Woe unto me. Would that I had not associated anyone with my Lord.’⁶⁵

(18:43) And there was not a band for him to help him apart from Allah,⁶⁶ nor could he defend himself.

(18:44) There! Protective power belongs to Allah alone: the True One.⁶⁷ He is the best in reward and the best in outcome.

Commentary

55. Some scholars of classical times, such as Ibn ‘Abbas, Mujahid and Qatadah, have read the word “thamar” (meaning fruit) as “thumur” (meaning varieties of wealth). Ibn Jarir prefers this variant reading. But, Ibn Kathir believes “fruit” is a better understanding.

56. Some linguists have expressed the opinion that the construction of the sentence lends a sense of argument. That is, the two were discussing a subject, albeit somewhat heatedly, or, arguing over something, probably this life and the nature of its trials.

57. That is, he went into the orchard puffed up with pride and vanity (Au.).

Yusuf Ali writes: “It was not wealth that ruined him, but the attitude of his mind. He was unjust, not so much to his neighbor (i.e., companion), as to his own soul. In his love of the material, he forgot or openly defied the spiritual. As verse 37 shows, he took his companion with him, to impress him with his own importance, but the companion was unmoved.”

58. What he meant is: “I deserve my affluence. It is a sign of my Lord’s approval of me. Accordingly, when I return - if I ever have to - then, there should be a better deal waiting for me there in the new habitat also” (Au.).

59. Majid comments: “The man fondly imagined that his affluence was solely due to his merit and not to any beneficence on the part of God.”

60. The human body is composed of some 100 trillion cells (100,000,000,000,000). Pregnancy starts with the fusion of two microscopic cells that become one. However, in no time the resultant single cell splits into two: each daughter cell being an exact replica of the mother cell. Each of the two daughter cells again split to become four: with each new daughter cell an exact replica of the two mother cells. Then the four split to become eight, and so on. Initially, every new cell of the billions is a replica of the first cell. But after a while, variations start showing up: variations that are essential if the cells are to become the component parts of a variety of organs – hands, feet, nerves, heart, brain, etc. But this is amazing, something very unusual. For, every new cell has the same set of DNA: the coded chemical message that determine the size, shape, function, and life of the parts of the body. With the variation, (which affects only the outer structure, the nucleus housing the DNA carrying coded messages remaining unchanged), various organs start taking shape in different parts of the embryo: first the tip of the back bone, the heart, and later, the limbs, eyes, ears, and so on. This phenomenon almost gives the freedom to the cell to determine its future course of development, e.g., whether it will become part of the backbone, or the toe. The situation becomes more complicated when we realize that since the brain is still not in place, and billions of cells are deciding their own fate, apparently, each by itself, there has to be some kind of communication between the trillions of them to determine the division of position and work. But, if there is, then, the question is, what central organ is there that controls the communication so that a brain cell does not become a heart cell or vice a versa. This is only one of the problems within the developing embryo. A study reveals that there are several such phenomenon explained very poorly by the biologists, in vague terms, with lots of holes in the arguments, studded with plenty of ‘perhaps’es’, ‘probably’s’, and ‘maybes’ which force us to pay greater attention to the verse at hand (Au.).

61. Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and others write: The Sahihayn report that the Prophet said to Abu Hurayrah, “May I not lead you to a treasure from the treasures of Paradise? It is to say,

لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله

“There is no force nor any power save with Allah.’

62. That is, in the Hereafter (Ibn Kathir).

63. Although literally, “accounting”, but according to Ibn ‘Abbas, Dahhak and Ibn Zayd, the textual word “husban” has been used here in the sense of a scourge (from the heaven: Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). In fact, writes Zamakhshari, literally also the word can mean scourge.

64. That is, it was destroyed by a scourge that descended on it by night (Qurtubi).

65. Mawdudi writes against an earlier verse, “The person concerned did not deny the existence of God.. (for) kufr does not merely consist in denying the existence of God. In addition, pride, arrogance, vainglory and denial of the Hereafter also constitute kufr of God; for the faith required of man does not merely consist of affirming God’s existence; it also requires affirming Him as the Master, the Lord, and the Sovereign. Whosoever focuses his attention exclusively upon himself, who considers his attainments, his wealth and his high social standing not as gifts from God but the result of his own ability and effort, who thinks that his wealth will endure and that none has the power to deprive him of it, and who thinks that he is accountable to no one - such a person in fact does not believe in God in the sense in which he is required to..”

66. That is, the manpower he had boasted of earlier, failed to protect his orchards (Ibn Kathir).

67. There have been at least four interpretations of the word “walayah”, of which of course only one could be chosen for translation.