Page 90 - True Wisdom Described in the Qur'an

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TRUE WISDOM DESCRIBED IN THE QUR'AN

fruits the next morning, without saying the redeeming
words, "If Allah wills". (Surat al-Qalam: 17-18)
This is the point where the owners of the garden were
thoughtless, because no one can ever be definitely sure of what
will happen in the future. Allah can put a person in an unex-
pected situation or a very different environment, whenever He
wills. For this reason, the best and wisest thing to do in this situ-
ation is to be aware that one can only do something if Allah per-
mits, and to ask Allah’s permission. The Qur’an lays down how
one should behave in such a situation:
Never say about anything, "I am doing that tomorrow",
without adding "If Allah wills". Remember your Lord
when you forget, and say, "Hopefully my Lord will
guide me to something closer to the Truth". (Surat al-
Kahf: 23-24)
The mistake made by the owners of the garden in this situa-
tion, was to forget that the owner and ruler of everything is
Allah. When they went there early in the morning, they clearly
saw that they had been greatly mistaken and now saw the seri-
ousness of their thoughtlessness. To make them understand that
the real possessor of power and wealth was Himself alone,
Allah sent a plague upon their garden and dried the crops from
their roots:
So a visitation from your Lord came upon it while they
slept and in the morning it was like burnt land
stripped bare. (Surat al-Qalam: 19-20)
The owners of the garden were talking among themselves, as
they were about to go their garden in the morning, they voiced
their greed in worldly goods as:
In the morning they called out to one another, "Leave