His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And strike for them a parable of two men. We made for one of them two gardens of vines and We surrounded them with date palms and placed crops in between them.﴾ ﴿Both gardens produced their fruit and did not fail to produce anything therein. And We caused a river to gush forth within them.﴾ ﴿And he had fruit, so he said to his companion while he was conversing with him, 'I am greater than you in wealth and more powerful in [number of] men.'﴾

The pronoun in "to them" refers to the confused group that wanted from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to expel the poor believers who call upon their Lord in the morning and in the evening, and also to those who call upon Him. The parable is struck for the two groups; the disbeliever man who owns the two gardens is in contrast to the tyrants of Quraysh or Banu Tamim, contrary to what was mentioned first, and the believing man who acknowledges the Lordship is in contrast to Bilal, Ammar, Suhaib, and their companions.

And "We surrounded them" means: We made that for it from every direction. You say: May Allah surround you with goodness, meaning: may He encompass you with it from your sides. And "surrounding" refers to the side of a bed and the like.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And the apparent meaning of this parable is that it is about a matter that occurred and was existent, and based on this, most of the people of this interpretation have explained it. It is possible that the parable is struck for one who has this description even if that has never occurred in existence at all. The first is more apparent.

It has been narrated regarding this that they were two brothers from the Children of Israel who inherited four thousand dinars. One of them used his wealth as mentioned, and bought slaves, married, and became wealthy, while the other spent his wealth in obedience to Allah, the Exalted, until he became poor. They met, and the wealthy one boasted and reproached the believer, so this conversation occurred between them. It has been narrated that they were two partners, blacksmiths, who earned a lot of money and did what was narrated in the matter of the two brothers, and what happened to them is what Allah has narrated in His Book. And Ibrahim ibn al-Qasim, the scribe, mentioned in his book (in the wonders of the lands) that the lake of Tinnis was between the two gardens, and it belonged to the two brothers. One of them sold his share to the other and spent in obedience to Allah until the other reproached him, so this conversation occurred between them. He said: So Allah drowned it in one night, and it is this that I mean with this verse.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And in the elaboration of their stories, there is length, so I have summarized it and it has been limited to its meaning due to the lack of its authenticity, and because in this there is enough to understand the verse.

And contemplate this state that Allah, the Exalted, mentioned, for a person can hardly imagine anything more beautiful than it in the gains of people: two gardens of vines surrounded by date palms, with a space between them that is cultivated with all kinds of grains, and the gushing water irrigates all of that from the river that has beautified this scene, magnified the benefit, facilitated the toil, and sufficed from the watering animals and others.

(p-606) And the majority read: "Kilta", and in the Mushaf of Abdullah: "Kila", and the 'ta' in "Kilta" is transformed from a 'waw' according to Sibawayh. It is a singular noun that applies to the dual thing, and it is not a dual noun. Its meaning is: each one of them. And "al-ukul": its fruit that is eaten from it. Al-Farra' said: And in the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: "Every one of the two gardens brought forth its produce." And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And He did not wrong them in anything﴾, means: He did not diminish from the due. And from this is the saying of the poet:

I am wronged by my wealth like this and he twists my hand ∗∗∗ May Allah twist his hand, He who is prevailing.

And the majority read: "Wa fajjarnā" with a strong 'jeem'. And Sallam, Ya'qub, and 'Isa ibn Umar read: "Wa fajarnā" with an open 'jeem' without emphasis. And the majority read: "Nahran" with an open 'ha'. And Abu al-Sammal, Al-Fayyad ibn Ghazwan, and Talhah ibn Sulaiman read: "Nahran" with a silent 'ha'. And Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Ibn Amir, Hamzah, Al-Kisai, Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and a group of the reciters of Medina and Mecca read: "Thumr" and "Wa uhiṭa bi-thumrihi" with a 'thaa' and 'meem' in the plural of fruits. And Abu Amr, Al-A'mash, and Abu Rujai read with a silent 'meem' in both for ease, and its meaning is like the first. It is possible that it is the plural of "thamara" like "badana" and "budn". And Asim read "Thamar" and "Wa uhiṭa bi-thamarihi" with an open 'meem' and 'thaa' in both, and this is the reading of Abu Ja'far, Al-Hasan, Jabir ibn Zayd, and Al-Hajjaj.

The interpreters differed regarding "al-thumr" with a 'thaa' and 'meem'. Ibn Abbas and Qatadah said: "Al-thumr": (p-607) all wealth of gold, silver, and other than that, and they support this saying with the verse of Al-Nabighah:

And what I harvest of wealth and offspring.

And Mujahid said: It specifically refers to gold and silver. And Ibn Zayd said: "Al-thumr" are the roots in which the fruit is found.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

It is as if they are fruits and thumr, like katib and kutub. As for those who read with an open 'thaa' and 'meem', there is no difficulty in that the meaning is what is in the tops of the trees from food. However, the eloquence of speech necessitates that it expresses concisely the destruction of the fruits, and the roots are mentioned only by the destruction of the fruits, as they are the aim of the cultivator. And the destruction of the roots is only troublesome to him by the destruction of the fruits that were hoped for in the future. And just as His saying "Indeed, he has fruits" indicates that he has roots, likewise the absolute encompassing of the fruits and the roots has perished. And in the Mushaf of Ubayy: "And We gave him abundant fruit." And Abu Rujai read: "And he had fruit" with an open 'thaa' and a silent 'meem'. And "al-muhawarah": is the revisiting of the saying, and it is from: harā yahūr.

Some people inferred from His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And more honored in rank" that he was not his brother. The opponent said: He meant by "rank" the slaves and the dependents; for they are the ones who rush towards his desires. In this statement, there is arrogance, vanity, and delusion, the explanation of which is enough to refrain from further discussion about it. This statement is akin to the words of 'Uyaynah and al-Aqra' to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "We are the leaders of the Arabs, and the people of the tents and the soil, so keep Salman and his companions away from us."