Tafheem-ul-Quran - Abul Ala Maududi

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Tafheem-ul-Quran - Abul Ala Maududi translation for Surah Saba — Ayah 16

34:16
فَأَعۡرَضُواْ فَأَرۡسَلۡنَا عَلَيۡهِمۡ سَيۡلَ ٱلۡعَرِمِ وَبَدَّلۡنَٰهُم بِجَنَّتَيۡهِمۡ جَنَّتَيۡنِ ذَوَاتَيۡ أُكُلٍ خَمۡطٖ وَأَثۡلٖ وَشَيۡءٖ مِّن سِدۡرٖ قَلِيلٖ ١٦
But they turned away1 and so We let loose upon them a devastating flood2 that swept away the dams and replaced their gardens by two others bearing bitter fruits, tamarisks, and a few lote trees.3
Footnotes
  • [1] Qira’at: Ibn Kathir, Abu ʻAmr and Yaʻqub read it as: “He said, ‘If you had wanted, you could have taken a reward for it.’”
  • [2] Qira’at: All except for Nafieʻ, Ibn Kathir, Abu ʻAmr, Hafs and Yaʻqub read it as: “. . . in a hot spring . . .”
  • [3] Qira’at: Nafieʻ, Ibn Kathir, Abu ʻAmr, Ibn ʻAmer, Shuʻba and Abu Jaʻfar read it as: “. . . then for him is the repayment for the excellent (deed) , and we will . . .”
  • [4] That is, they adopted the way of disobedience and ingratitude instead of obedience and gratefulness.
  • [5] The word arim as used in sayl al-arim in the text is derived from the South Arabic word ariman, which stands for a dam. In the ancient inscriptions that have been unearthed in the ruins of the Yaman, this word has been commonly used in this meaning. For example, in an inscription dated 542 or 543 A.D. which Abraha, the Abyssinian governor of the Yaman, had gotten installed after the repairs to the great dam of Maarib, this word has been used repeatedly in the meaning of a dam. Therefore, sayl al- arim implies a flood that comes when a dam breaks.
  • [6] That is, as a result of the flood that came after the dam burst, the whole land was laid waste. The canals which the Sabaeans had dug out by building dams between the mountains were ruined and the irrigation system destroyed. Then the same land which had been like a garden before became a jungle of wild growth and no eatable plants were left in it except the small plume like fruit of the lote bushes.