Tafsir

Learning the Lessons of the Past

Allah says: will these people who deny the Messengers not learn from the nations who came before them, whom Allah destroyed for their rejection of His Messengers and their opposition to what the Messengers brought them of the straight path No trace is left of them whatsoever.هَلْ تُحِسُّ مِنْهُمْ مِّنْ أَحَدٍ أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزاً(Can you find a single one of them or hear even a whisper of them) (19:98).

Allah says:يَمْشُونَ فِى مَسَـكِنِهِمْ(in whose dwellings they do walk about) meaning, these disbelievers walk about in the places where those disbelievers used to live, but they do not see any of those who used to live there, for they have gone --كَأَن لَّمْ يَغْنَوْاْ فِيهَآ(As if they had never lived there) (11:68) This is like the Ayat:فَتِلْكَ بُيُوتُهُمْ خَاوِيَةً بِمَا ظَلَمُواْ(These are their houses in utter ruin, for they did wrong) (27:52).فَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَـهَا وَهِىَ ظَالِمَةٌ فَهِىَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا وَبِئْرٍ مُّعَطَّلَةٍ وَقَصْرٍ مَّشِيدٍ أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ(And many a township did We destroy while they were given to wrongdoing, so that it lie in ruins, and (many) a deserted well and lofty castle!

Have they not traveled through the land) until:وَلَـكِن تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِى فِى الصُّدُورِ(but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that grow blind.) (22:45-46) Allah says here:إِنَّ فِى ذَلِكَ لاّيَاتٍ(Verily, therein indeed are signs.) meaning, in the fact that these people are gone and have been destroyed, and in what happened to them because they disbelieved the Messengers, and how those who believed in them were saved, there are many signs, proofs and important lessons.أَفَلاَ يَسْمَعُونَ(Would they not then listen) means, to the stories of those who came before and what happened to them. n

The Revival of the Earth with Water is Proof of the Resurrection to comeأَوَلَمْ يَرَوْاْ أَنَّا نَسُوقُ الْمَآءَ إِلَى الاٌّرْضِ الْجُرُزِ(Have they not seen how We drive water to the dry land) Here Allah explains His kindness and goodness towards them by His sending water to them, whether from the sky or from water flowing through the land, water carried by rivers down from the mountains to the lands that need it at particular times. Allah says:إِلَى الاٌّرْضِ الْجُرُزِ(to the dry land) which means the land where nothing grows, as in the Ayah,وَإِنَّا لَجَاعِلُونَ مَا عَلَيْهَا صَعِيداً جُرُزاً (And verily, We shall make all that is on it a bare dry soil.) (18:8) i.e., barren land where nothing grows.

Allah says here:أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْاْ أَنَّا نَسُوقُ الْمَآءَ إِلَى الاٌّرْضِ الْجُرُزِ فَنُخْرِجُ بِهِ زَرْعاً تَأْكُلُ مِنْهُ أَنْعَـمُهُمْ وَأَنفُسُهُمْ أَفَلاَ يُبْصِرُونَ (Have they not seen how We drive water to the dry land that has no vegetation, and therewith bring forth crops providing food for their cattle and themselves Will they not then see) This is like the Ayah,فَلْيَنظُرِ الإِنسَـنُ إِلَى طَعَامِهِ أَنَّا صَبَبْنَا الْمَآءَ صَبّاً (Then let man look at his food: We pour forth water in abundance.) (80:24-25). Allah says here:أَفَلاَ يُبْصِرُونَ(Will they not then see)

The word: جُرُز (al-juruz) in verse 27: أَوَلَمْ يَرَ‌وْا أَنَّا نَسُوقُ الْمَاءَ إِلَى الْأَرْ‌ضِ الْجُرُ‌زِ فَنُخْرِ‌جُ (Have they not seen that We drive water to the dry land, then We bring forth crops thereby - 27) means barren land where trees do not grow.

A wise system of irrigation

Usually the Qur'an mentions the irrigating of dry lands and the growing of crops therein by saying that the land receives rain, and becomes moist and growth-worthy. But, there is no mention of rain in this verse. Instead of that, it has been said that water itself is directed to move aground towards the dry land and thereby bring forth the growth of trees. In other words, the rain is made to fall on some other land and it is from there that water is directed to move in the form of carrier channels on the ground all the way to the dry land that receives no rain.

There is a hint embedded here. Some lands are so soft that they cannot withstand rains. If regular rains were made to fall there, buildings may collapse or trees may be uprooted. Therefore, nature has made its own arrangements for such lands. As for the rain itself, it is sent on a land which is capable of holding it. After that, water is made to flow from here all the way to such lands which cannot withstand rains - like the land of Egypt. And there are commentators who have pointed out to some lands of Yaman and Syria as being referred to in this verse. (as reported from Ibn ` Abbas and Al-Hasan)And as for the correct position, this subject includes all such lands, with the inclusion of the land of Egypt known for scanty rains particularly. But, water from the rains in the Abyssinian territory of Africa comes into Egypt through the Nile bringing with it particles of the indigenous red soil which is good for the growth of crops. Therefore, the people of Egypt, despite that they have no rains in their country, do benefit by a supply of new water and soil every year.

فَتَبَارَ‌كَ اللَّـهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ (So, glorious is Allah, the Best of creators - 23:14).