وَأُحيطَ بِثَمَرِهِ فَأَصبَحَ يُقَلِّبُ كَفَّيهِ عَلىٰ ما أَنفَقَ فيها وَهِيَ خاوِيَةٌ عَلىٰ عُروشِها وَيَقولُ يا لَيتَني لَم أُشرِك بِرَبّي أَحَدًا

And ruin closed in on his produce, and he began to wring his hands for what he had spent on it, as it lay fallen on its trellises. He was saying: ‘I wish I had not ascribed any partner to my Lord.’

EXEGESIS

Uḥīṭa (closed in) comes from iḥāṭah meaning to encompass, which is derived from a wall (ḥāʾiṭ) encircling something.^{‎[1]Tibyan, 7/49; Tabrisi, 6/728.} The original meaning of iḥāṭah is to set a wall around something.^{‎[2]Tibyan, 6/166.} Here it means that the garden was encompassed by destruction, like saying ‘the enemy encompassed (aḥāṭa) them’ killing every last one of them. It is then used generally to express destruction and ruin, like in the verse, give me a [solemn] pledge by Allah that you will surely bring him back to me, unless you are made to perish (yuḥāṭa bikum) (12:66).^{‎[3]Tibyan, 7/49; Tabrisi, 6/728; Zamakhshari, 2/724; Razi, 21/465.}

We are not told in this verse what exactly the destruction that visited the garden was, but the fact that it is left unspoken here suggests it was the very same destruction that he had been warned about by his faithful friend. As if to say: and so it was that the destruction which he had been warned about came to pass and it encompassed his gardens.

Thamar (produce) was discussed in the commentary on verse 34 and can mean the fruits or the produce or the profits that man had gained. The fact that only the produce of the garden was afflicted may imply that the garden was not destroyed completely; it was just to give the man a gentle warning.

Yuqallibu (wring) means here to slap one hand with the other,^{‎[4]Tabrisi, 6/728; Baghawi, 3/193.} or to rotate one’s hands up and down.^{‎[5]Thalabi, 6/172; Baghawi, 3/193.} Because this is done usually by one who is regretful and anxious it has been utilised as an expression for regret,^{‎[6]Tabrisi, 6/728; Zamakhshari, 2/724.} much like the English expression of wringing one’s hands.

Kaffayhi (his hands) literally means the palms of his two hands.

Khāwiyah (lay fallen) is from the root khawā, meaning to fall, like in the verse, So there lay their houses, fallen in ruin (khāwiyah) (27:52).^{‎[7]Qurtubi, 10/410.}

Alternatively, it has the meaning of khāliyah, like khawā baṭnuhu, meaning his stomach is empty of food.^{‎[8]Alusi, 8/269.} This is used for buildings when no one is occupying them, leaving them perhaps abandoned or uninhabited.^{‎[9]Tantawi, 8/522.} The first meaning is more appropriate though and is the more common understanding adopted by the exegetes.

ʿUrūsh (trellises) is the plural of ʿarsh, meaning that which has a roof (musaqqaf).^{‎[10]Raghib, p. 558.} Here it means trellis, that is the frames upon which the grapevines rested, like in the verse, It is He who produces gardens trellised (maʿrūshāt) and without trellises (6:141). Khāwiyatun ʿalā ʿurūshihā^{‎[11]This expression is also used in other verses; for more on it see also 2:259.} would then mean the trellises had collapsed and its produce had collapsed on it. It is said that these are specifically mentioned as having been destroyed because they represented the capital investment made by the wealthy man in his gardens.^{‎[12]Alusi, 8/269.} In any case, khāwiyatun ʿalā ʿurūshihā is an expression denoting the destruction of what he had built.

EXPOSITION

The discussion between the two men ends and now we are taken to God’s description of the events that followed it.

And ruin closed in on his produce: we do not know exactly what type of destruction was visited on the gardens. Was it bolts from the sky (verse 40)? Did its water sink down (verse 41)? Was it something else entirely? Or was it a combination of different afflictions?

The description of the events and the man’s reaction does suggest though that the destruction was not a slow wilting away of the garden (which would be the result of its water drying up), but rather something sudden and immediate, like devastation descending from the sky.^{‎[13]Alusi, 8/269. See also Nemuneh, 12/436.}

And he began to wring his hands for what he had spent on it, as it lay fallen on its trellises: he had made a large capital investment in these gardens, investing in the labour for preparing the land, making trellises for the grapes, buying servants to pick the produce, and all other necessary expenses.

The expression wring his hands denotes regret, as we said. Obviously, regret is only possible for things that one has chosen to do. This is why the regret is due to what he had spent on it, and not the destruction of the garden.^{‎[14]Alusi, 8/268-269.} It also conveys the shock of the man. When he initially sees the destruction he cannot speak or verbalise his thoughts, only anxiously wringing his hands.^{‎[15]Tantawi, 8/522.}

He was saying: ‘I wish I had not ascribed any partner to my Lord’: many exegetes have understood ascription of partners to God in this statement to mean polytheism and that the man then repented from his polytheistic beliefs.^{‎[16]See for example Tibyan, 7/50; Tabari, 15/164; Razi, 21/466; Alusi, 8/269.}

What it definitely also means is that he realised at that moment the reality of what his friend had told him and that he should never have ascribed his success to himself. He realised that the decree of all affairs is in God’s hands and one cannot oppose it. By ascribing his success to causes other than God, he had in fact ascribed partners to Him.^{‎[17]See Mizan, 13/316.} This is not in contradiction with his apparent polytheism.

Finally, this verse should not be understood as God punishing the man for his lack of faith. Rather, as we mentioned earlier, God does these things in order to give him reminders. On the contrary, trials of poverty and difficulty are most often given to the believers in order to elevate them in their status as they prove themselves in one test after another. Indeed, God declares in the Quran that he would make all the faithless drown in worldly enjoyments if it did not cause all mankind to go astray: Were it not [for the danger] that mankind would be one community, We would have surely made for those who defy the All-Merciful, silver roofs for their houses and [silver] stairways by which they ascend, and [silver] doors for their houses and [silver] couches on which they recline; and ornaments of gold; yet all that would be nothing but the wares of the life of this world, and the hereafter near your Lord is for the God-wary (43:33-35).^{‎[18]See Razi, 21/466.}

Indeed, this story is a clear reminder of how wealth and the misplaced pride in which it often results can mean wealth is sometimes more of an affliction than the blessing some might consider it to be.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

According to Ṭabarī, I wish I had not ascribed any partner to my Lord is something that the man said after he had died.^{‎[19]Tabari, 15/163.}

Mudarrisi proposes that God uses the word aḥadan (any partner) rather than shayʾan (anything) to mean that the one who worships money and wealth will tomorrow worship the one who is in possession of those.^{‎[20]Mudarrisi, 6/418.}

Qurṭubī relates an opinion that hands is figurative and means properties, meaning that he looked at his properties and could not find any return and profit on what he had invested into it. This is because yad (hand) can be used figuratively to mean milk (property).^{‎[21]Qurtubi, 10/410.} He also suggests that the verb aṣbaḥa (began) means that the destruction visited the garden during the night, like in the verse, Then a visitation from your Lord visited it while they were asleep. So by dawn (aṣbaḥat) it was like a harvested field (68:19-20).^{‎[22]Qurtubi, 10/410. See also Muhit, 7/181.} This is because the verb aṣbaḥa can literally mean ‘to wake up to find’ and is connected to the morning (ṣubḥ). We might note that the previous two verses also use the verb aṣbaḥa to describe the destruction. The understanding proposed by Qurṭubī is not certain though, as the verb can generally mean ‘to become’.^{‎[23]See for example its usage in verse 45.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish as a branch.^{‎[24]Proverbs 11:28.}
2. Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools.^{‎[25]Jeremiah 17:11.}

[1] Tibyan, 7/49; Tabrisi, 6/728.
[2] Tibyan, 6/166.
[3] Tibyan, 7/49; Tabrisi, 6/728; Zamakhshari, 2/724; Razi, 21/465.
[4] Tabrisi, 6/728; Baghawi, 3/193.
[5] Thalabi, 6/172; Baghawi, 3/193.
[6] Tabrisi, 6/728; Zamakhshari, 2/724.
[7] Qurtubi, 10/410.
[8] Alusi, 8/269.
[9] Tantawi, 8/522.
[10] Raghib, p. 558.
[11] This expression is also used in other verses; for more on it see also 2:259.
[12] Alusi, 8/269.
[13] Alusi, 8/269. See also Nemuneh, 12/436.
[14] Alusi, 8/268-269.
[15] Tantawi, 8/522.
[16] See for example Tibyan, 7/50; Tabari, 15/164; Razi, 21/466; Alusi, 8/269.
[17] See Mizan, 13/316.
[18] See Razi, 21/466.
[19] Tabari, 15/163.
[20] Mudarrisi, 6/418.
[21] Qurtubi, 10/410.
[22] Qurtubi, 10/410. See also Muhit, 7/181.
[23] See for example its usage in verse 45.
[24] Proverbs 11:28.
[25] Jeremiah 17:11.