"But they turned away (from God), and We sent against them the Flood (released) from the dams, and We converted their two garden (rows) into "gardens" producing bitter fruit, and tamarisks, and some few (stunted) Lote-trees." ~ Saba Ayat 16
* "Arim" ( = Dams or Embankments) may have been a proper noun, or may simply mean the great earth-works fined with stone, which formed the Maarib dam, of which traces still exist. The French traveller T.J. Arnaud saw the town and ruins of the Dam of Maarib in 1843, and described its gigantic works and its inscriptions: See Journal Asiatique for January 1874: the account is in French. For a secondary account in English, see W.B. Harris. Journey Through Yemen, Edinburgh, 1893. The dam as measured by Arnaud was two miles long and 120 ft. high. The date of its destruction was somewhere about 120 A.D., though some authorities put it much later.* ~ Hafiz Abdullah Yusuf Ali Tafsir
* The flourishing "Garden of Arabia" was converted into a waste. The luscious fruit trees became wild, or gave place to wild plants with bitter fruit. The feathery leaved tamarisk, which is only good for twigs and wattle-work, replaced the fragrant plants and flowers. Wild and stunted kinds of thorny bushes, like the wild Lote-tree, which were good for neither fruit nor shade, grew in place of the pomegranates, the date-palms and the grape-vines. The Lote-tree belongs to the family Rhamnaceae, Zizyphus Spina Christi, of which (it is supposed) Christ’s crown of thorns was made, allied to the Zizyphus Jujuba, or ber tree of India. Wild, it is shrubby, thorny and useless. In cultivation it bears good fruit, and some shade, and can be thornless, thus becoming a symbol of heavenly bliss: lvi. 28.* ~ Hafiz Abdullah Yusuf Ali Tafsir
[56:27] The Companions of the Right Hand,- what will be the Companions of the Right Hand?
[56:28] (They will be) among Lote-trees without thorns,
[56:29] Among Talh trees with flowers (or fruits) piled one above another,-
When I examine this passage concerning bitter thorned fruit and some few stunted lote trees, I think of the Divine Order of Allah (swt) and how everything of nature and of the heavens and the earth praise and glorify Allah. "Subaha lillahi ma fie al samawati wa ma fie al ardi." And it seems that all of nature rejoices at this Order of Subjegation to Allah, except some amongst the jinns and mankind. Again I mention the circumambulation of the celestial bodies (sun, moon, stars, planets) on a macrocosm level to the tawaf of the pilgrims of Hajj to the circumambulation of the electrons about the nucleii of atoms, on a microcosm level, all point to that everything in the heavens and the earth rejoices at the being subject to Allah.
[55:5] The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed; (Al Shamsi wal Qamar bihusbani)
[55:6] And the herbs and the trees - both (alike) bow in adoration. (Al Najmi wal Shajar yasjudani)
All of Allah's subjects do not wish to assist in rejection of Allah (swt) so when you look at the response of the fruits turning bitter and thorned...the reality of this is amazing, nothing short of amazing. A person, depending upon his or her values and refinement, will produce a type of cultivation (familial, social, intellectual, etc) If that individual falls short in terms of value, then what happens? If they are a bad example to the youth of the family? If they treat friends and neighbors poorly? If intellectually they offer poor or deficient information? People will make it so that that individual cannot have effect; nor reach in those particular circles were they are failing. Bitter thorned fruit to me implies fruit that does not wish to be reached because the cultivator was using the resource in rejection of Allah. Bitter implies to me the responses of those that do not wish to be used; or do not wish to be turned away from the Order of Allah. Allah's response.
So when this is viewed in light of climate change effecting crops, water levels and weather patterns...is it money that is a retardent or reverser of what is taking place...or what took place at Saba 16 of Holy Quran? Perhaps, if used for charity. Or is it getting one's self and community and country back aligned with the Divine Order of Allah that all of His (swt) subjects rejoice to be in?
* "Arim" ( = Dams or Embankments) may have been a proper noun, or may simply mean the great earth-works fined with stone, which formed the Maarib dam, of which traces still exist. The French traveller T.J. Arnaud saw the town and ruins of the Dam of Maarib in 1843, and described its gigantic works and its inscriptions: See Journal Asiatique for January 1874: the account is in French. For a secondary account in English, see W.B. Harris. Journey Through Yemen, Edinburgh, 1893. The dam as measured by Arnaud was two miles long and 120 ft. high. The date of its destruction was somewhere about 120 A.D., though some authorities put it much later.* ~ Hafiz Abdullah Yusuf Ali Tafsir
* The flourishing "Garden of Arabia" was converted into a waste. The luscious fruit trees became wild, or gave place to wild plants with bitter fruit. The feathery leaved tamarisk, which is only good for twigs and wattle-work, replaced the fragrant plants and flowers. Wild and stunted kinds of thorny bushes, like the wild Lote-tree, which were good for neither fruit nor shade, grew in place of the pomegranates, the date-palms and the grape-vines. The Lote-tree belongs to the family Rhamnaceae, Zizyphus Spina Christi, of which (it is supposed) Christ’s crown of thorns was made, allied to the Zizyphus Jujuba, or ber tree of India. Wild, it is shrubby, thorny and useless. In cultivation it bears good fruit, and some shade, and can be thornless, thus becoming a symbol of heavenly bliss: lvi. 28.* ~ Hafiz Abdullah Yusuf Ali Tafsir
[56:27] The Companions of the Right Hand,- what will be the Companions of the Right Hand?
[56:28] (They will be) among Lote-trees without thorns,
[56:29] Among Talh trees with flowers (or fruits) piled one above another,-
When I examine this passage concerning bitter thorned fruit and some few stunted lote trees, I think of the Divine Order of Allah (swt) and how everything of nature and of the heavens and the earth praise and glorify Allah. "Subaha lillahi ma fie al samawati wa ma fie al ardi." And it seems that all of nature rejoices at this Order of Subjegation to Allah, except some amongst the jinns and mankind. Again I mention the circumambulation of the celestial bodies (sun, moon, stars, planets) on a macrocosm level to the tawaf of the pilgrims of Hajj to the circumambulation of the electrons about the nucleii of atoms, on a microcosm level, all point to that everything in the heavens and the earth rejoices at the being subject to Allah.
[55:5] The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed; (Al Shamsi wal Qamar bihusbani)
[55:6] And the herbs and the trees - both (alike) bow in adoration. (Al Najmi wal Shajar yasjudani)
All of Allah's subjects do not wish to assist in rejection of Allah (swt) so when you look at the response of the fruits turning bitter and thorned...the reality of this is amazing, nothing short of amazing. A person, depending upon his or her values and refinement, will produce a type of cultivation (familial, social, intellectual, etc) If that individual falls short in terms of value, then what happens? If they are a bad example to the youth of the family? If they treat friends and neighbors poorly? If intellectually they offer poor or deficient information? People will make it so that that individual cannot have effect; nor reach in those particular circles were they are failing. Bitter thorned fruit to me implies fruit that does not wish to be reached because the cultivator was using the resource in rejection of Allah. Bitter implies to me the responses of those that do not wish to be used; or do not wish to be turned away from the Order of Allah. Allah's response.
So when this is viewed in light of climate change effecting crops, water levels and weather patterns...is it money that is a retardent or reverser of what is taking place...or what took place at Saba 16 of Holy Quran? Perhaps, if used for charity. Or is it getting one's self and community and country back aligned with the Divine Order of Allah that all of His (swt) subjects rejoice to be in?
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