Page 275 - An Index to the Qur'an

way Allah makes the Signs clear to you, so that And We make some things better to eat than oth-
hopefully you will reflect. (2:219) ers. There are Signs in that for people who use
You who believe! Wine and gambling, stone al- their intellect. (13:4)
tars and divining arrows are filth from the handi- They say, ‘We will not believe you until you
work of Satan. Avoid them completely so that make a spring gush out from the earth for us; or
hopefully you will be successful. (5:90) have a garden of dates and grapes which you
Satan wants to stir up enmity and hatred between make rivers come pouring through; or make the
you by means of wine and gambling, and to sky, as you claim, fall down on us in lumps; or
debar you from remembrance of Allah and from bring Allah and the angels here as a guarantee; or
prayer. Will you not then give them up? (5:91) possess a house built out of gleaming gold; or as-
cend up into heaven–and even then we will not
GARDEN believe in your ascent unless you bring us down
The metaphor of those who spend their wealth, a book to read!’ Say: ‘Glory be to my Lord! Am I
desiring the pleasure of Allah and firmness for anything but a human messenger?’ (17:90-93)
themselves, is that of a garden on a hillside. Make an example for them of two men. To one of
When heavy rain falls on it, it doubles its pro- them We gave two gardens of grape-vines and
duce; and if heavy rain does not fall, there is surrounded them with date-palms, putting be-
dew. Allah sees what you do. (2:265) tween them some cultivated land. Both gardens
Would any of you like to have a garden of dates yielded their crops and did not suffer any loss,
and grapes, with rivers flowing underneath and and We made a river flow right through the mid-
containing all kinds of fruits, then to be stricken dle of them. He was a man of wealth and prop-
with old age and have children who are weak, erty and he said to his companion, debating with
and then for a fierce whirlwind containing fire to him, ‘I have more wealth than you and more
come and strike it so that it goes up in flames? In people under me.’ He entered his garden and
this way Allah makes His Signs clear to you, so wronged himself by saying, ‘I do not think that
that hopefully you will reflect. (2:266) this will ever end. I do not think the Hour will
It is He Who sends down water from the sky from ever come. But if I should be sent back to my
which We bring forth growth of every kind, and Lord, I will definitely get something better in re-
from that We bring forth the green shoots and turn.’ His companion, with whom he was debat-
from them We bring forth close-packed seeds, ing, said to him, ‘Do you then disbelieve in Him
and from the spathes of the date palm date clus- Who created you from dust, then from a drop of
ters hanging down, and gardens of grapes and sperm, and then formed you as a man? He is,
olives and pomegranates, both similar and dis- however, Allah, my Lord, and I will not associate
similar. Look at their fruits as they bear fruit and anyone with my Lord. Why, when you entered
ripen. There are Signs in that for people who be- your garden, did you not say, "It is as Allah wills,
lieve. (6:99) there is no strength but in Allah"? Though you see
It is He Who produces gardens, both cultivated me with less wealth and children than you pos-
and wild, and palm-trees and crops of diverse sess, it may well be that my Lord will give me
kinds, and olives and pomegranates, both similar something better than your garden and send
and dissimilar. Eat of their fruits when they bear down on it a fireball from the sky so that morning
fruit and pay their due on the day of their harvest, finds it a shifting heap of dust, or morning finds
and do not be profligate. He does not love the its water drained into the earth so that you can-
profligate. (6:141) not get at it.’ The fruits of his labour were com-
In the earth there are diverse regions side by side pletely destroyed and he woke up wringing his
and gardens of grapes and cultivated fields, and hands in grief, rueing everything that he had
palm-trees sharing one root and others with indi- spent on it. It was a ruin with all its trellises fallen
vidual roots, all watered with the same water. in. He said, ‘Oh, if only I had not associated any-
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