إِنَّا بَلَوْنَاهُمْ كَمَا بَلَوْنَا أَصْحَابَ الْجَنَّةِ (We have tested them as We had tested the Owners of the Garden....68:17). The preceding verses rebutted the criticisms of pagan Arabs levelled against Allah's Messenger and gave reasons why the charges are not only unfounded, but also absurd. The present set of verses mentions a story of the past and the unbelievers of Makkah are threatened with punishment. 'Testing them' could refer to the forthcoming story, in which the owners of a garden were blessed with Divine favours, but they behaved ungratefully. As a result, a punishment came upon them and the favours were destroyed. The greatest Divine favour upon the Makkans was the advent of the Holy Messenger t. Besides, their businesses flourished and they prospered. This was a test for them to see whether they would behave gratefully to Allah and believe in Him and in His Messenger ﷺ ، or whether they would obstinately persist in disbelief. In the other case, they should draw lessons from the story of the owners of the orchard, lest they be visited by a similar punishment on account of ingratitude. This interpretation would apply even in the case where these verses are taken as Makki, but most commentators take them to be Madani. The 'test' referred to here is the terrible famine that held Makkah in its grip, as a result of the Holy Prophet's prayer against them, for several years during which time people died of hunger and starvation, they were forced to eat carrion and leaves of trees till the Makkans begged the Holy Prophet ﷺ to pray for their deliverance from the scourge. This incident took place after the migration.
The Story of the Owners of a Garden
Some elders, such as Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، mentioned that this orchard was in Yemen. According to one version of Sayyidna Said Ibn Jubair's narration, it was about six miles away from San` a', the famous capital city of Yemen. Other scholars think that it was in Ethiopia [ formerly known as Abyssinia ] [ Ibn Kathir ]. They were from amongst the People of the Book. This incident took place a while after the Ascension of Sayyidna Isa (علیہ السلام) [ Qurtubi ].
They are referred to as the 'Owners of the Garden' in the above verse. The description of the story given in the verses indicates that they did not only have a garden, but they also had large tracts of land which they cultivated and had fields of crops. Possibly, side by side with the orchard there were tracts of cultivated land and fields of crops in between the trees. However, they were called the owners of the garden on account of the popularity of the garden. The incident is reported according to the narration of Muhammad Ibn Marwan on the authority of Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ as follows: There was a garden about two farsakhs (six miles) away from San` a' of Yemen. Its name was Darawan. This garden was set up by a pious and righteous person. His practice was to pick the fruits or harvest the crops with sickle. He would give some of the crop to the poor and indigent who gathered grains for themselves and did their living.
Likewise, when the crop was thrashed, and the grain separated from the chaff, he would leave the grain for the poor. So also when fruits were picked from the trees of the orchard, some fruits would fall down, and he would leave them for the indigent. For this reason, the poor always gathered at the orchard at the time of picking the fruit, and separating the grain from the chaff. When the righteous person passed away, he had three sons who inherited the orchard and crop-fields. They held a family meeting and discussed that their family has grown large, and the produce of the orchard and land is not sufficient for them. Therefore, it is no longer possible for them to spare any fruit or grain for the poor. According to other narratives, these boys, like other youngsters, felt that their father was a fool to give so much of fruits and grains to them. They thought it was necessary to put a stop to this. The rest of the story is told in the following verses of the Qur'an.
إِذْ أَقْسَمُوا لَيَصْرِمُنَّهَا مُصْبِحِينَ (...when they had sworn an oath that they would pluck its fruits on the next morning, and did not make any exception (by saying 'insha'Allah' ).... 68:17-18). In other words, they swore that they would harvest very early in the morning and return with it before the throng of poor people could arrive at the garden. They had so much of confidence in their plan that they did not say the redeeming words 'If Allah wills' whereas it is sunnah to say 'insha'Allah' when one mentions that one will do a particular work tomorrow.
