Pa g e |1

2.45

Day 50: Tafsir Part 45

SURAH AL-KAHF AYAH 34-42

Description
This video discusses the tafsir of ayahs 34-42.
Video starts at 3:44
We have been given the description of the gardens that belong and are the property of one of the two gardeners. Its
also important to note that other than a passing implicit reference, the property of the second gardener has not been
referred to. Which means either the property is insignificant, or its nothing to speak of, or they know each other and
theyre not even neighbors.
Ayah 34

He had fruit
Could be the way of saying, the one who had fruit happened to be there
Or another way of looking at it could be, he had fruit so it was one of those seasons where his trucks were
loaded with fruit from his gardens

and he says to his companion

it is someone youve spent a long time with, and someone youve accompanied for a long period


of time and youve known really well. It could be a direct neighbor or a friend

riginally comes from the word which means to go back and to come back to

also means reduction in something

The idea behind is that you speak to someone and they have to return back to you something

o i.e. they pose a question and they have to respond back to you
So they were both asking each other questions that required the other to answer and they were going back and
forth
And he in fact was the one that was going back and forth in conversation with him

2015 Bayyinah TV

Pa g e |2

It is a so he had fruit and then he said to his friend while he was engaged in conversation
o

o
o

The idea is that now that he has his truck loaded and things are looking good and hes on his way to sell
and he sees his friend, then he spoke to his friend. So he picked the time to speak to his friend when he
was out in full glory and was in a position where he expected people to praise him
Thats why the in . So he picked the opportune time
The other thing is that the people that have this kind of bling and things that they want to show off,
theyre usually for someone to ask or from some comment from someone. And it seems that this guy
did not get a comment or a praise. So he didnt get what he wanted.
So he decides that he is going to be the one to initiate conversation

vs
o

is for 2 people to converse with each other

But if you say then it is you would have to put it in the present tense

you could then say which would mean they are both talking to each other

or you could say which would mean that he is talking to him; so he is the one initiating
conversation with the other even though the word suggests that the other is responding,
but one is taking a primary role.

he is the one posing questions and starting a conversation hoping it can lead to him getting a
chance that could lead to him to talk about the fruits. But he is still not getting it! He is not getting out of his
friend what should be a compliment.
o

The idea of is to ask a question. So hes hoping to be asking a question that he can answer, but he
isnt getting it so he just comes out and says whats on his mind anyway.

This was the point he wanted to get across and the thing he had been wanting to say
In other words, he stopped pretending
We see this psychological struggle of this person really badly wanting to show off in a subtle way that falls apart
and then his true colors come out and they are captured in the language here.
He says, I am more than you when it comes to wealth.
o The other subtlety is that while he was in the midst of conversation answering some other question, he

slipped in


It is pretty obviously the other farmer didnt ask him, do you have more money than I do? No.
He was probably answering some other question about something else and he slipped the fact
that he has more money in.
Allah is not telling us the entire elaborate story in which this gardener embedded these hurtful
words. Allah just said in the midst of conversation.
Allah wanted to get the point across of this guys internal satisfaction that he wanted to feel that
he is more than the other gardener.

2015 Bayyinah TV

Pa g e |3

He could have even said it in other ways. But the way he did see it, was that I am more
when it comes to wealth. Not, my money is more. So to him, its the idea that he is
worth more and his value is perceived by what he owns.
This is a very fundamental psychological problem: being over materialistic. Deeming
your worth on what you possess. So the car you drive is an expression to what you are
worth to yourself (and possibly to others).
People have an allure of wanting to be associated with things that have a large worth

Authority and respect so he has more authority in terms of more manpower (sons or employees) and he has a
lot of money so in his mind he has more prestige
o This is his defining characteriscs and this is what he wanted to slip in
There is another psychological insight in this ayah. These kind of people dont actually feel good about
themselves until they put someone else down.

Ayah 35

He entered his garden and he is already feeling good and superior about himself. And he is wronging only
himself.
How do you enter a garden while wronging yourself?
o

the guy who puts something where it doesnt belong. So how did he enter his garden while being
wrong to himself?
In this case it is not an act. It is an attitude and state of mind.

You could be to yourself having not done anything and it could all be an attitude in your
head.

And so the way he wronged himself is by saying,

I dont think at all that any of this

is going to die out, ever.

o

here doesnt necessarily mean that he said it out loud. It could be that he was thinking it or it was in

his mind.
When things were going really really well, you start to think in your head that things will never change
and you forget that it is all from Allah swt and that is how he wronged himself

Ayah 36

The next delusion he has, which is one of the scariest manifestations of materialism, was never around the time
of the Prophet (pbuh).
o In protestant thought, the more material you gain, the more God loves you and the more He blessed
you.

2015 Bayyinah TV

Pa g e |4

o
o

o
o

This theology came from the fact that you are already saved in heaven, because you accepted
Jesus as lord and savior. You dont need Gods help in the afterlife. Thats been taken care of. So
you only need to work for this life. And therefore you need Gods help only in this life.
In catholic Christianity, you shunned the world with geopolitical reasons for that. The only entity that
was making money was the church. You get salvation in the next life by shunning this world and this life.
This type of thinking came to the Muslims and hit us hard. We began to consider material gain a blessing
from Allah.
So yes it is a blessing, but it is also a test!
Allah is addressing that delusion in the mind of the believer.
So you only see benefit or loss with whether Allah is happy with you or not

I dont think the hour will ever stand

o He means that the hour isnt near. Doesnt necessarily mean that he doesnt believe it isnt going to
happen
He thinks this perhaps because his friend is giving him warnings and that he has to fear
judgment day.
That statement in this surah is not an accident, he doesnt think the signs of judgment day is
here.
This ayah talks about people that are so engrossed and absorbed in their material life that when you talk to
them about the afterlife or anything that has to do with the afterlife, it disturbs them and theyd rather not talk
about it.

And even if I was forced to go back to my Rabb

is something that is returned but unaccepted

Even if I did go back to Allah, then I will absolutely most definitely find better than it a place much better than
this to turn back to

is a a place to go back to

So hes basically saying, I dont think its going to come. And even if it did come, then Allah will surely give me
better. Why would he give me Jannah in this dunya and not give it to me in the akhirah?

Ayah 37

Now the friend finds another time to make conversation with the gardener. This is another conversation taking
place

But this time his friend decides that hes going to slip something in

2015 Bayyinah TV

Pa g e |5

o
o

Keep in mind: What he said to his friend was

What he said to himself:

and

So all that his friend knows from his neighbor is the statement, I am more than you in wealth and I have
more authority and respect than you in manpower.
That is what the friend will respond to. This one is a response to ayah 34 because in the previous
ayah it sounds that it is tantamount to kufr. He had doubts about akhirah and he had his own
version of what would happen and didnt care about what Allah would do.
The idea is that he used his material state as a gauge about where he would end up in
the akhirah
But this is not the blasphemy that is being highlighted. That which is being highlighted is
I am more than you in wealth and I have more authority and respect than you in
manpower.
Did you disbelieve and are ungrateful of the one Who created you from dirt? Why do you think that you are so
much better? Did you forget that you are also from dirt?
o Is your dirt more expensive than mine? Or is the skin you are made of somehow more valuable?

And then He molded you out into a man. Forget about what your material possessions are. You yourself being a
man, youve forgotten.
He thinks a lot about his possessions but doesnt think about himself. And so this friend is trying to remind him
about himself and who he is for the sake of Allah
So this friend is upset too. It comes through the ayahs. He felt insulted by what the man said to him. He isnt
there necessarily just for daawah. He was hurt and it doesnt make him less of a person because of it.
o So even the statement of him being ungrateful of the One who made him from dirt this is an offensive
statement no matter how you look at it

Ayah 38

Then you have this statement

This is a fusion between and as opposed to

From a rhetorical perspective the idea is that he is speaking about himself but because the sentence is about
Allah, hes reduced himself so he doesnt use a stronger version of .
is a reduced form and he has
reduced himself before Allah
o This is a contrast between arrogance in the previous ayahs and humility here

2015 Bayyinah TV

Pa g e |6

He is Allah my Rabb and as far as I am concerned I dont do shirk with my Rabb with anybody.
The question comes up that the owner of the 2 gardens didnt say that he worships idols. He just said that he is
worth more because of money and has more respect because of authority. So his friend has accused him of kufr
in one ayah and of shirk in the next ayah.
So where is the kufr and where is the shirk? They are 2 distinct things
A kaafir is someone who is ungrateful and rejects the truth
A mushrik is someone that associates someone else with Allah
o He is ungrateful because he is thinking all of it is entitled to himself. He is also in denial of his own origin.
These are kufr when you dont give Allah His due
o

His shirk is because he gave credit to himself and did not give credit to Allah. He used when

describing himself. Theres a difference between that and between, Allah gave me and made me
wealthy
This susggests that the owner of the 2 gardens has associated someone with Allah. Himself. And his universe is
centered around him and his doings

Ayah 39

How come it wasnt the case that the very moment you entered your garden you said, whatever Allah has
willed.
o Him saying this would have meant that none of this was the product of his work or labor. But success in
the material or immaterial sense is a product of the will of Allah. This is a fundamental principle that is
easily forgotten. Allah results and all successes and all failure at the end of the day is a combination of 2
things: human effort and Divine Will. Our effort is not enough to get results.
o If you go back to what his garden looked like and what it was, youll notice that every verb was taken
back to Allah. All of it was the will of Allah. The rivers through them, the palm trees, the fruits, etc. It is
all the results of Allahs will

There is no power whatsoever except by Allahs disposal

o

This is a negation of because all of his money is from Allah. It also negates all his

authority from manpower. That it all is given by Allah and Allah has all the power
His friend didnt know what he was saying, but it is as if Allah inspired him to say this because it is what
the owner of the 2 gardens needed to hear.

this is an additional word. It means that he is crying and is hurt by what was said.
o
o

Why didnt you say those words if you see ME as less? He had to say me twice. It is not normal speech
but it is emotional speech
Allah is not negating your self. We are allowed to feel pain. That is not pride and ego.

2015 Bayyinah TV

Pa g e |7

goes back to the money.

refers to the that he has manpower in sons that perhaps his

friend didnt have

Ayah 40

is used on the tongue of man for hope

o

When it is used by Allah Himself then He is hinting at the fact that He might do this Himself.

this word
Perhaps my Master might just give me a garden better than yours and Hell send against it

means calculation. But it also means something at a very precious and calculated time.
o The sun and the moon follow a very precise calendar. But they are also about to be destroyed exactly on
time.
So, Allah will send against your garden a timely destruction from the sky

And then it will become barren and slippery it might overflood or it might just be that a huge hurricane will
come and the river will over flood and will destroy your entire garden and the trees will start falling and all that
youll be walking on will be mud and it will turn into swamp land overnight right on schedule
o When a believer talks like that, they must be angry. You dont tell someone that hey Allah may burn
your house down
o The believer didnt pray for this to happen but he said it MIGHT happen

Ayah 41

Or it could be that its water becomes absorbed and then youre not going to be able to demand it. Youre not
going to be able to seek it. Youre going to be digging and youre not going to find water.
o The rivers now are automatically irrigating everything but you wont be able to access it later

Ayah 42

Allah then says this casually

: his fruit then got surrounded

o
o

this is used throughout the Quran to refer to children, fruit, hard work

So when his fruit got surrounded, the whole thing is surrounded. You dont have to say the farm got
surrounded. Because if you surround the 2 gardens, whats in between was a farm.
So it is all completely overrun. We dont know how it got surrounded, but we do know that
there were palm trees on the periphery.
So now they are completely enveloped and it has come after the fruit of his labor (the thing that
makes him money)

2015 Bayyinah TV

Pa g e |8

And all of a sudden he started wrangling his hands not knowing what to do with it or himself and feeling
helpless.
o This is in contrast to him walking into it a few days before when he couldnt get over how great he was
He was wrangling his hands over the investments he had made in it. He had put so much money into the garden.
He had put so many mechanisms in place and so many trees to protect it from wind. This guy put the money in.

While it is turned over on top of its trellises

means roof or ceiling and also means throne

o It also means stick the plant wraps around it, that is a trellis
o And the grapes grow on trellises they are delicate and you have to take care of them
The palm trees have now been destroyed and fell onto the trellises and became the reason his garden got
destroyed. The palm trees were supposed to be the security
His most valuable fruit was the grapes and he also had dates and now it is all just collapsed

He says, if only I hadnt committed shirk of my Rabb with anybody.

2015 Bayyinah TV