'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Certainly, there was for Sheba in their dwelling a sign: two gardens on the right and on the left. Eat from the provision of your Lord and be grateful to Him. A good land and a Forgiving Lord." "But they turned away, so We sent upon them a flood from the dam and We replaced their two gardens with two gardens producing bitter fruit and tamarisks and something of a little lote tree." "That is the recompense We gave them for their disbelief. And will We recompense anyone except the ungrateful?" This is an example for Quraysh, of a people to whom Allah had bestowed blessings and sent messengers, but they disbelieved and turned away, so Allah took vengeance upon them. That is: you, O people, are like them. And Sheba: here he intended by it the tribe. There is a difference regarding why the tribe was named that. A group said: it is the name of a woman who was the mother of the tribe. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan said in the book of Al-Rummani: it is the name of a place, so the tribe was named after it. The majority said: it is the name of a man who was the father of the entire tribe. It is said that he is the son of Yashjub ibn Yarub. It has been narrated in this regard that a hadith states: 'The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was asked by Farwah ibn Musayk about Sheba, what is it? He said: "It is the name of a man from whom the tribes of Yemen descended."' Nafi', Asim, Abu Ja'far, Shaybah, and Al-A'raj read: "for Sheba" with a broken, accented hamzah, meaning the tribe. Abu Amr and Al-Hasan read: "for Sheba" with an open hamzah, not declined, meaning the tribe. The majority of the reciters read: "their dwellings"; because everyone has a dwelling. Al-Kisai alone read: "in their dwelling" with a broken kaf, meaning in the place of their dwelling, which is the reading of Al-A'mash and Al-Aqlamah. Abu Ali said: and the opening is also good, but this is as they say: "mosque," even though Sibawayh sees this as the name of the house, and not the place of prostration. He said: this is the language of the people today, and the opening is the language of the Hijaz, which is today rare. Hamzah and Hafs read: "their dwelling" with an open kaf, on the source, which is a generic name intended for the plural. This singular is as the poet said: 'Eat in some of your bellies so that you may lighten.' And as another said: 'The skin of the buffalo has bitten their necks.'

'And 'Ayah' means: a lesson and a sign of Allah's grace and power. And 'Jannatan' is a beginning, and its news is in His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿on the right and on the left﴾, or the news of the beginning is: it is two gardens, and it is a statement meaning: this is their state. The substitution for 'Ayah' is weak. This was said by Makki and others. Ibn Abi Abla read: ['Ayah Jannatayn'] with the accusative case. It has been narrated that there was in the region of Yemen a great valley between two mountains. At the beginning of the two mountains, there was a great bridge made of stones from the mountain, so the water was held back in it and became a great lake. The water from its sides flowed upward, watering the gardens on both sides of the valley. It was said that this was built by Bilqis, and it was said that it was built by Himyar, the father of all the Yemeni tribes. They were in this state in abundant blessings. After that, they had visible villages connected from Yemen to Sham, and they were the lords of that land at that time.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿['Eat']﴾ has an omission, as if He said: it was said to them: eat. And ['Tayyibah'] means: noble in soil, good in air, abundant in blessings, safe from pests and harms. These are the expressions of the interpreters. And that valley - as narrated from Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf, may Allah be pleased with him - no gnat, louse, mosquito, scorpion, or anything harmful would enter it. And if someone came to it from a journey, he would fall at the beginning of the valley. It has been narrated that whoever walked with a basket on his head among its trees would fill his basket without extending a hand. It has been narrated that this saying about eating and drinking and being mindful of the goodness of the land and seeking forgiveness from the Lord along with faith is from the words of the prophets to them. And Ruways read from Ya'qub: ['Baladatan Tayyibatan wa Rabban Ghafooran'] with the accusative in all. And it was narrated that He sent to them - as has been reported - thirteen prophets, but they disbelieved in them and turned away. So Allah, the Exalted, sent upon that dam a blind locust that multiplied in it and gradually destroyed it piece by piece. And He sent a flood in that valley that carried that dam. It is narrated that it was so great and the amount of water was such that it filled what was between the two mountains, and it carried the gardens and many people who could not escape. It is narrated that when the dam was breached, that was the cause of the gardens drying up, and they perished in that way. And it has been narrated that He diverted the water from its original place, which it was in before, so the irrigation of the gardens was disrupted.

And people differed regarding the term ﴿['Al-'Arim']﴾. Al-Mughira ibn Hakim and Abu Maysarah said: Al-'Arim in the language of Yemen is the plural of 'Arimah', which is everything built or constructed to hold water. And it is said in the language of the people of Hijaz: Al-Musanah. Like bridges and barriers and similar things. From this meaning is the saying of Al-A'sha:

And in that, for the imitator, there is an example ∗∗∗ And Ma'rab bit down on it the 'Arim

The stones were built for them by Himyar ∗∗∗ When its flood came, it did not stop.

From the people of Saba, they were present at Ma'arib when they built beyond its flood, the 'arim.

Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, and Al-Dhahhak said: The name of the valley of that water is the very one for which the dam was built. Ibn Abbas - may Allah be pleased with him - also said: The flood of that valley always reached Mecca and was beneficial. Ibn Abbas said: Al-'arim means the severe.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And it is as if it is a description of the flood, from al-'aramah, and the addition to the description is an exaggeration, and this is common in the speech of the Arabs.

A group said: Al-'arim is the name of a rat, and this is weak. It was said: Al-'arim is a description of the heavy rain that occurred at that flood.

And His saying, the Exalted, "And We replaced them with two gardens" is a statement in which there is a metaphor and a borrowing; that is because the replacement from the ghimṭ and the athl was not gardens, but this is like saying to someone who has been stripped of a good garment and has been beaten: "This beating is a suitable garment for you," and similar to this. And His saying: "two of them" is the dual form of "one of them." And "ghimṭ" is the tree of the arak, as said by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him and others. It was said: "ghimṭ" is every tree that has thorns and its fruit is unpleasant in taste with bitterness, or it is a type of chickpea, or something like it, and from it: the milk becomes ghimṭ when its taste changes. And "athl" is a type of tamarisk; this is the correct view, and Abu Hanifah said this in the book of plants. Al-Tabari said: And it was said: It is a tree similar to tamarisk, and it was said that it is the samur. And "sidr" is well-known, and it has nabq that is similar to jujube, but it is much less in taste. And "for the ghimṭ" there is a worthless fruit which is al-barir, and "for the athl" there is a little fruit that is not good in taste.

Ibn Kathir and Nafi' read: "Ukl" with the hamzah being pronounced and the kaf being silent. The others read with the hamzah being pronounced and the kaf being pronounced, and it was also narrated from Abu Amr that the kaf is silent, and they both mean the harvest and the fruit. And from His saying, the Exalted: "It gives its fruit" [Ibrahim: 25] means: its harvest. The majority of the reciters read with the tanween of "Ukl" and its description "ghimṭ" and what follows it. Abu Ali said: This substitution is not good; because "ghimṭ" is not the same as food, and "food" is not the same as "ghimṭ" itself, and the description is also like that; because "ghimṭ" is a name, not a description, and the best of what is in it is the conjunction of the explanation, as if it clarified that "the food" is this tree and from it. And the reading of the majority is improved by the fact that this name has come in the manner of a description in the saying of Al-Hudhali:

A property like the water of the rain is not of ghimṭ nor is it a mixture that burns the drinkers with its flame.

And Abu Amr read by adding "Ukl" to "ghimṭ" and pronouncing the kaf, meaning: "Ukl of ghimṭ," and Abu Ali preferred the reading of Abu Ali.

And His saying, exalted is He: "That" is an indication of what He has decreed upon them. And His saying: "And will We recompense" means: He will be discussed and opposed with a like of his action, measure for measure. This is because the recompense of the believer is only by grace and increase. As for the one who is neither increased nor decreased, he is the disbeliever. This was said by Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan. And Tawus said: It is the discussion. Likewise, if the believer has sins, he may be forgiven and not recompensed, while the disbeliever will certainly be recompensed. And it has been said, blessings and peace be upon him: "Whoever is discussed in the account will be punished." The majority of the reciters read: "will be recompensed" with a 'ya' and a opened 'zay'. Hamzah and Al-Kisai read: "We will recompense" with a 'noon' and a broken 'zay'. Muslim ibn Jundub read: "And will he be recompensed?" And Abu Amr Al-Dani reported that he read: "will recompense" with a 'dhamma' on the 'ya' and a broken 'zay'. Al-Zajjaj said: It is said: I recompensed in good, and I recompensed in evil. This favors the reading of the majority.