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Lit., "the flooding of the dams" (sayl al-'arim). The date of that catastrophe cannot be established with any certainty, but the most probable period of the first bursting of the Dam of Ma'rib seems to have been the second century of the Christian era. The kingdom of Sheba was largely devastated, and this led to the migration of many southern (Qahtan) tribes towards the north of the Peninsula. Subsequently, it appears, the system of dams and dykes was to some extent repaired, but the country never regained its earlier prosperity; and a few decades before the advent of Islam the great dam collapsed completely and finally.
lit., tamarisks.
lit., lote trees.
Into that happy Garden of Eden in Arabia Felix (Araby the Blest) came the insidious snake of Unfaith and Wrongdoing. Perhaps the people became arrogant of their prosperity, or of their science, or of their skill in irrigation engineering, in respect of the wonderful works of the Dam which their ancestors had constructed. Perhaps they got broken up into rich and poor, privileged and unprivileged, high-caste and low-caste, disregarding the gifts and closing the opportunities given by Allah to all His creatures. Perhaps they broke the laws of the very Nature which fed and sustained them. The Nemesis came. It may have come suddenly, or it may have come slowly. The pent-up waters of the eastern side of the Yemen highlands were collected in a high lake confined by the Dam of Maarib. A mighty flood came; the dam burst; and it has never been repaired since. This was a spectacular crisis: it may have been preceded and followed by slow desiccation of the country.
"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.
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.
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Neither the Qur'an nor any authentic hadith tells us anything definite about the way in which the people of Sheba had sinned at the time immediately preceding the final collapse of the Dam of Ma'rib (i.e., in the sixth century of the Christian era). This omission, however, seems to be deliberate. In view of the fact that the story of Sheba's prosperity and subsequent catastrophic downfall had become a byword in ancient Arabia, it is most probable that its mention in the Qur'an has a purely moral purport similar to that of the immediately preceding legend of Solomon's death, inasmuch as both these legends, in their Qur'anic presentation, are allegories of the ephemeral nature of all human might and achievement. As mentioned at the beginning of note [23] above, the story of Sheba's downfall is closely linked with the phenomenon of men's recurrent ingratitude towards God. (See also verse {20} and the corresponding note [29].)
Kafur: intensive form: "those who deliberately and continuously reject Allah and are ungrateful for His Mercies, as shown by their constant wrong-doing.
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I.e., Mecca and Jerusalem, both of which lay on the caravan route much used by the people of Sheba.
i.e., Mecca and Jerusalem.
An instance is now given of the sort of covetousness on the part of the people of Saba, which ruined their prosperity and trade and cut their own throats. The old Frankincense route was the great Highway (imam mubin xv. 79; sabil muqim, xv. 76) between Arabia and Syria. Through Syria it connected with the great and flourishing Kingdoms of the Euphrates and Tigris valleys on the one hand and Egypt on the other, and with the great Roman Empire round the Mediterranean. At the other end, through the Yemen Coast, the road connected, by sea transport, with India, Malaya, and China. The Yemen-Syria road was much frequented, and Madain Salih was one of the stations on that route, and afterwards on the Pilgrim route: see Appendix No: 4 to S. xxvi. Syria was the land on which Allah "had poured His blessings", being a rich fertile country, where Abraham had lived: it includes the Holy Land of Palestine. The route was studded in the days of its prosperity with many stations (cities) close to each other, on which merchants could travel with ease and safety, "by night and by day". The close proximity of stations prevented the inroads of highwaymen.
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In its generally-accepted spelling - based on the reading adopted by most of the early scholars of Medina and Kufah - the above phrase reads in the vocative rabbana and the imperative ba'id ("Our Sustainer! Make long the distances ...", etc.), which, however, cannot be convincingly explained. On the other hand, Tabari, Baghawi and Zamakhshari mention, on the authority of some of the earliest Qur'an-commentators, another legitimate reading of the relevant words, namely, rabbuna (in the nominative) and ba'ada (in the indicative), which gives the meaning adopted by me: "Long has our Sustainer made the distances . ..", etc. To my mind, this reading is much more appropriate since (as pointed out by Zamakhshari) it expresses the belated regrets and the sorrow of the people of Sheba at the devastation of their country, the exodus of large groups of the population, and the resultant abandonment of many towns and villages on the great caravan routes.
An allusion to the mass-migration of South-Arabian tribes in all directions - particularly towards central and northern Arabia - subsequent to the destruction of the Dam of Ma'rib.
They became bored of living comfortably and traveling easily. A similar example can be found in 2:61, where the Children of Israel became bored with the manna and quails and wanted to eat other things such as onions and garlic.
Said: in this and other places in the Qur-an, "language" is used for thought or deed. The Commentators call it the "language of actual facts" (zaban hal) as opposed to the "language of words" (zaban qal).
The covetous Saba people, in order to get more profit from travellers' supplies by concentrating them on a few stations which they could monopolise, tended to choke off traffic and ruin the big trade. Selfishness often runs counter to true self-interest. It is a historical fact that the great Yemen-Syria route in Arabia declined with the decline of Yemen. There were no doubt physical causes, but supreme above all were the moral causes, the grasping nature of the people, and their departure from the highest standards of righteousness.
The people of Saba were given every chance. They had prosperity, skill, trade and commerce, and a healthy and beautiful country. They also had, apparently, great virtues, and as long as they remained true to their virtues, i.e., to the Law of Allah, they remained happy and contented. But when they became covetous and selfish, and became jealous of other people's prosperity instead of rejoicing in it, they fell from grace and declined. It may be that the climate changed, the rainfall became scantier, perhaps on account of the cutting down of hill forests; trade routes changed, on account of the people falling off in the virtues that make men popular: behind all the physical causes was the root-cause, that they began to worship mammon, self, greed, or materialism. They fell into the snare of Satan. They gradually passed out of history, and became only a name in a story. Moral: it is only Allah's Mercy that can give true happiness or prosperity, and happiness or prosperity is only a snare unless used for the highest service of Allah and man.
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See 17:62 , as well as the last sentence of 7:17 , in which Iblis (i.e., Satan) says of the human race, "most of them wilt Thou find ungrateful".
Iblîs was the name of Satan before his fall from grace (see footnote for 2:33). His assumption (or vow) was that he could easily mislead the majority of people (see 7:16-17, 15:39-40, and 38:82-83).
Cf. xvii. 62. Satan out of arrogance had said, when he asked for respite from the Most High; "I will bring (Adam's) descendants under my sway, all but a few." This was now proved true on the Saba people. He had no power to force them. It was their own will that went wrong and put them into his power.
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Cf. a similar phrase placed in the mouth of Iblis in 14:22 ("I had no power at all over you: I but called you - and you responded unto me"), and the corresponding note [31]; also, see note [30] on {15:39-40}. - Although, on the face of it, verses {20-21} of the present surah refer to the people of Sheba, their import is (as the sequence shows) much wider, applying to the human race as such.
See 15:41 and the corresponding note [31].
Might test: the word in the original is might know. It is not that Allah does not know all. Why does He want to test? It is in order to help us subjectively, to train our will, to put us definitely the question, "Will you obey Allah or other than Allah?" Cf. n. 467 to iii. 154.
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I.e., anybody who would "mediate" between Him and any of His creatures. As is evident from the sequence (as well as from {17:56-57}), this passage relates, in particular, to the attribution of divine or semi-divine qualities to saints and angels and to the problem of their "intercession" with God.
Other objects of worship, such as Self, or Money, or Power, or things we imagine will bring us luck or prosperity, though they can do nothing of the kind.
The false gods have no power whatever either in heaven or on earth, either in influencing our spiritual life or our ordinary worldly life. To suppose that they have some share, or that they can give some help to Allah, even though Allah is Supreme, is both false and blasphemous. Allah is One and Supreme, without sharer, helper, or equal.
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Regarding the Qur'anic concept of "intercession", see note [7] on 10:3 . Cf. also 19:87 and 20:109 .
Lit., "the truth" - i.e., whatever God decides regarding His grant or refusal of leave for intercession (which is synonymous with His redemptive acceptance or His rejection of the human being concerned) will conform with the requirements of absolute truth and justice (see note [74] on 19:87 ).
Cf. xx. 109, n. 2634, where I have explained the two possible modes of interpretation. Each soul is individually and personally responsible. And if there is any intercession, it can only be by Allah's gracious permission. For the Day of judgment will be a terrible Day, or Day of Wrath (Dies Irae) according to the Latin hymn, when the purest souls will be stupefied at the manifestation of Allah's Power. See next note.
"Their hearts": the pronoun "their" is referred to the angels nearest to Allah. On the Day of Judgment there will be such an irresistible manifestation of Power that even they will be silent for a while, and will scarcely realise what is happening. They will question each other, and only thus will they regain their bearings. Or "their" may refer to those who seek intercession.
In their mutual questionings they will realise that Allah's Judgment, as always, is right and just.
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See note [49] on the first sentence of 10:31 .
The believers and polytheists.
There are six propositions introduced here with the word "Say", at verses 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 30. They clearly explain the doctrine of Unity (verse 22), the Mercy of Allah (verse 24), man's Personal Responsibility (verse 25), the Final Justice of Allah (verse 26), Allah's Power and Wisdom (verse 27), and the Inevitability of the Judgment, by which true values will be restored (verse 30).
Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, are incompatible, one with another. In this matter we can make no compromise. It is true that in men there may be various degrees of good or evil mixed together, and we have to tolerate men as our fellow-creatures, with all their faults and shortcomings. But this does not mean that we can worship Allah and Mammon together. Wrong is the negation of Right as light is of darkness. Though there may be apparently varying depths of darkness, this is only due to the imperfection of our vision: it is varying strengths of light as perceived by our relative powers of sight. So we may perceive the Light of Allah in varying degrees according to our spiritual vision. But in simple questions of Right or Wrong, we are faced by the Categorical Imperative.
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Therefore do not persecute us, or bring personal animus to bear on us. We must do our duty in declaring the universal Message, which is for you as much as for us.
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Human controversies are vain and inconclusive. If you put your trust in Allah and we put our trust in Allah, we belong to one Brotherhood, and we shall see the perfect Truth finally when the Time comes.
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Wisdom and Power only belong to Allah. If you put your trust in other things, they will fail you, because they do not exist-as objects of worship. All else that you set your hearts upon will and must fail you, because they cannot in any wise be brought into rivalry with Allah.
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Allah's Revelation, through the holy Prophet, was not meant for one family or tribe, one race or set of people. It was meant for all mankind, to whom, if they turn to Allah, it is a Message of the glad tidings of His Mercy, and if they do not turn to Him, it is a warning against sin and the inevitable Punishment. That the Punishment does not come immediately (as far as they perceive) is no reason for doubting it. It has been declared in clear and unequivocal terms, and nothing can be more certain. Why delay? Why ask carping questions? Why not profit by the Message, turn to Allah in repentance, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness?
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The Qur'anic answer to this ironic question is found in 7:187 .
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For my rendering of sa'ah (lit., "hour") as "a single moment", see surah {7}, note [26].
When that Day actually arrives, your period of probation will have passed. It will be too late. Now is the time for action.
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