وَيُمدِدكُم بِأَموالٍ وَبَنينَ وَيَجعَل لَكُم جَنّاتٍ وَيَجعَل لَكُم أَنهارًا

And aid you with wealth and sons, and provide you with gardens, and provide you with streams.

EXEGESIS

Yumdidkum (he will aid you) is from madda, which originally meant to drag along or pull something,^{‎[1]Raghib, m-d-d.} and then it came to mean to extend, stretch, pull, prolong, or elongate. From this is derived meanings such as granting respite and delaying because it extends time. This includes meanings such as aiding, helping, and supporting (as used in this verse) because madd al-yad is to extend a hand to someone.

Likewise, madd al-baṣar or madd al-ʿayn is to stretch one’s eyes towards what others possess, as in the verse: Do not extend (tamuddanna) your glance (20:131). The expression ‘may God extend your life’ (or ‘his life’) is given in Arabic as madd allāhu fī ʿumrika (ʿumrihi).

Banīn is translated here as sons, perhaps because they were seen as a greater source of strength and support than daughters, otherwise, wealth and children are mentioned in verse 21^{‎[2]Maududi, Asad, Sarwar, and others have translated banīn as ‘children’ in this verse.} and banīn can mean children in general, as given in other verses such as: We aided you with wealth and children (banīn) (17:6).

And provide you with gardens, and provide you with streams are promised separately. The Quran very often depicts paradise in the hereafter as gardens beneath which streams flow (2:25, 2:266, 3:15, 3:195, 9:89, 22:23, etc.). See 2:25 for more on the meaning of ‘beneath which’ streams flow.

EXPOSITION

This verse and the previous one also reveal that when Prophet Noah’s (a) initial invitation – which should have sufficed for the wise – failed to make a difference, he tried attracting his people to God with the lesser (material) advantages of being faithful.

In Tabatabai’s understanding, wealth and sons represent what a man seeks to make life comfortable and to meet all his needs. So in a sense, the verse is saying: And aid you with all you need to make your lives enjoyable and with comfort. Gardens and streams are simply examples of what wealth can buy. They, again, represent a basic necessity – fertile land and clean water.^{‎[3]Mizan, 20/30.}

Jannāt (gardens) (sing. jannah) are orchards filled with trees and plenty of shade. It is the word used most often in the Quran to refer to paradise. Ālūsī quotes al-Biqāʿī as saying that gardens and streams in this verse could be the paradise in the hereafter, though the majority of exegetes have held the previous view, that these refer to gardens and streams in this world.^{‎[4]Alusi, 15/81.}

As noted in verse 11, God promises abundant rain as a blessing but it can lead to destruction when it is taken for granted and the Benefactor is forgotten (6:6). Likewise, here the aid of wealth and sons is promised if they turn back to God, yet in many other verses, wealth and sons are viewed as a trial and even a cause of misguidance if they are used to replace one’s reliance on God. See verse 21 later in this surah for a more detailed review of the Quran’s perspective on wealth and children, where Prophet Noah (a) blames his people for having been misled by following someone whose wealth and children only add to his loss, and he beseeches God not to spare them because If You leave them, they will lead astray Your servants, and will beget none except vicious ingrates (verse 27).

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. A man came to Imam al-Hasan (a) complaining that his land was barren and the Imam (a) said: ‘Plead forgiveness from Allah.’ Then another came and complained of not having children and he said the same; and another came and complained of poverty and the Imam said the same; and another came asking the Imam to pray for his provisions (rizq) and the Imam said the same. His companions asked: ‘People came to you asking for different things and for everything you gave them the same solution?’ He replied: ‘It was not from myself. I only took that from what the Quran says: Plead to your Lord for forgiveness … and provide you with streams [71:10-12].’^{‎[5]Sabzawari, 7/239; Alusi, 15/81-2.}
2. A man complained to Imam al-Bāqir (a) that he had no children, saying: ‘Teach me something.’ So he said to him: ‘Plead forgiveness every day or night, a hundred times, for Allah says: Plead to your Lord for forgiveness … and aid you with wealth and sons [71:10-12].’^{‎[6]Kafi, 6/8, h. 4.}
3. From Imam al-Riḍā (a), from Imam al-Sajjād (a), from Imam Ali (a), from the Holy Prophet: ‘If one is denied sustenance, then let him plead forgiveness from Allah.’^{‎[7]Uyun, 2/45, h. 171.}
4. Imam Ali (a) taught his companions: ‘Plead forgiveness from Allah frequently, you will attract sustenance.’^{‎[8]Khisal, p. 615.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Concerning the opening words of this verse: wa yumdidkum, Rāghib notes that most verses that employ this term as imdād and its derivatives, carry a positive meaning, whereas those that use it as forms of madd and its conjugations, are negative in their import.^{‎[9]Raghib, m-d-d.} Examples of the first are: We will provide them (amdadnāhum) with fruits and meat such as they desire (52:22), And aid you (yumdidkum) with wealth and sons (71:12), and, your Lord will aid you (yumdidkum) with five thousand marked angels (3:125). Whereas examples of the latter include: and leaves them (yamudduhum) bewildered in their rebellion (2:15), …they draw them (yamuddūnahum) into error (7:202), …and We will prolong (namuddu) his punishment endlessly (19:79), Do they suppose that whatever aid We provide them (numidduhum) in regard to wealth and children [is because] We are eager to bring them good? Rather they are not aware! (23:55-56), and, Are you aiding me (atumiddūnani) with wealth? (27:36).

But this distinction is only true when used for people. Otherwise, the term carries neither a positive nor negative connotation when used with meanings such as the extending of the oceans by a replenishment (18:109, 31:27), or in the extending of a shadow, or the twilight (25:45).

As to the reasons why Prophet Noah (a) was promising all this to his people, Nawawī, Rāzī, and others relate that when the people of Prophet Noah (a) initially refused to accept his message, it stopped raining and they were plagued with drought. Their gardens lay in waste and their streams dried up. The men became impotent and the women barren for forty years, as did the beasts,^{‎[10] Ibn Abbas, p. 617.} and according to some, seventy years.^{‎[11] Nawawi, 2/567; Razi, 30/651.} Prophet Noah’s (a) offer in this and the previous two verses was therefore also an invitation for them to test him if he was truthful and to see for themselves whether their giving up idol worship and turning to God penitently would reverse their fortunes or not. One would imagine they had nothing to lose. Yet their attachment to their false traditions and their disdainful arrogance (verse 7) prevented them from considering repentance. In a sense, they were worse than the Pharaoh and his people who at least gave in every time they were tried with a punishment. Whenever a plague fell upon them, they would say: ‘O Moses, invoke your Lord for us by the covenant He has made with you. If you remove the plague from us, we will certainly believe in you’ (7:134).

Interestingly, these exegetes also observe, their infertility also ensured that in forty years all the children had grown into adults and no innocent child would drown in the flood.^{‎[12] Dukhayyil, p. 774.} But the thought that absolutely no child died in the deluge is not entirely convincing. Firstly, we would assume that when Prophet Noah (a) said, someone whose wealth and children only add to his loss (verse 21) he did not only mean adult children, or that he only said this before the period of infertility. Secondly, Prophet Noah’s (a) prayer to God: If You leave them, they will … beget none except vicious ingrates (verse 27) would be meaningless, unless we force ourselves to believe that he prayed this only before they were plagued with drought and infertility. Thirdly, Ālūsī has opposed this view saying even in our own experiences, we know that it is not only the evil who suffer from natural disasters, even if their sins bring about some of these calamities. Ālūsī further adds that when Hasan al-Baṣrī was asked about children dying in the deluge of Prophet Noah (a), he said: ‘Allah knew of their innocence so he caused them to die but without chastisement.’ This, Ālūsī concludes, may have been to add to the torment of their unrighteous parents. As for the narration of them not having children for forty or seventy years, it lacks authenticity, Ālūsī argues.^{‎[13] Alusi, 15/89.} Ḥāʾirī has also quoted the words of Hasan al-Baṣrī and agreed with Ālūsī. He also mentions the argument that because God said, And Noah’s people, We drowned them when they impugned the apostles (25:37), we may assume that no child or mentally-handicapped drowned, since they cannot be counted amongst those who impugned the apostles. But then he counters this by saying when the Prophet was asked about this, he said: ‘They were destroyed as one [group] but for different reasons.’^{‎[14] Hairi, 11/262.}

It is evident even to this day, that natural disasters do not befall the wicked only. Often, the victims are the innocent. In the case of Prophet Noah’s (a) deluge, we would also factor the waste of the rest of the animals that were not boarded on the ark. This means that a natural disaster that is seen as divine chastisement may not be so for some, who die from or are affected by it. In God’s wisdom, their inclusion may be for other reasons beyond our perception, including a trial for their heirs, a redemption of their past lapses, or an increase in their spiritual reward in the hereafter. It is akin to the verse: We deal out such days among people in turn, so that Allah may ascertain who have faith, and for Him to choose martyrs from among you (3:140), and, yet it may be that you dislike something while it is good for you, and it may be that you love something while it is bad for you, and Allah knows and you do not know (2:216).

And lastly, Ibn Kathīr quotes from Ibn Abbas that the Apostle of God said: ‘If Allah would have shown mercy to anyone from the people of Noah (a) it would have been a woman who, when she saw the water rising, carried her child and ascended the mountain. When the water rose further, she raised her child to her shoulder. When the water got to her shoulder, she raised her child to her head. And when the water reached her head, she raised her child in the air [attempting to save it]. So if anyone was deserving of Allah’s mercy, it would have been this woman.’ After which, Ibn Kathīr adds: ‘This tradition is gharīb [meaning it has one transmission chain only] but its transmitters (rijāl) are trustworthy (thiqāt).’^{‎[15] Ibn Kathir, 8/250.}

All this suggests that while the people of Prophet Noah (a) may have suffered from shortages of rain and scarcity of wealth and sons (and hence Prophet Noah’s (a) offer), their lack of these may not have been absolute and hence their persistent and stubborn refusal to repent.

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.^{‎[16] Isaiah 48:18-19.}

[1] Raghib, m-d-d.
[2] Maududi, Asad, Sarwar, and others have translated banīn as ‘children’ in this verse.
[3] Mizan, 20/30.
[4] Alusi, 15/81.
[5] Sabzawari, 7/239; Alusi, 15/81-2.
[6] Kafi, 6/8, h. 4.
[7] Uyun, 2/45, h. 171.
[8] Khisal, p. 615.
[9] Raghib, m-d-d.
[10] Ibn Abbas, p. 617.
[11] Nawawi, 2/567; Razi, 30/651.
[12] Dukhayyil, p. 774.
[13] Alusi, 15/89.
[14] Hairi, 11/262.
[15] Ibn Kathir, 8/250.
[16] Isaiah 48:18-19.