Indeed, We tested the people of Mecca with drought and hunger by the supplication of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, against them, just as We tested the companions of the garden. They were a people from the people of prayer. This garden belonged to their father, two farsakhs from Sana'a. Mahmoud said: "The companions of the garden were a people from the people of prayer. This garden belonged to their father, two farsakhs from Sana'a..." Ahmad said: "The benefit of the indefinite article is to obscure the greatness of what befell it. The meaning of 'like the harvest' is that it was destroyed. It was said that 'harvest' refers to the night, because it blackened and became dark. It was also said that it refers to the day, meaning empty and devoid, from their saying: 'the whiteness of the vessel' when it is emptied. I said: And from it is the whiteness of the land, meaning: devoid of trees. It is mentioned in the hadith, and the jurists use it in the context of irrigation. The meaning of 'harvesters' is reapers.

He said: And he shifted from 'to' in his saying 'upon your harvest' because their morning was to reap it, so it is a morning upon it. The meaning of 'they were whispering' is that they secretly spoke among themselves out of fear of the poor appearing to them. And his saying 'that no poor person should enter upon you today' is like saying: 'I do not want to see you here.' 'Hurd' refers to the year when it withheld its goodness, and the meaning is: And they went out in a state of annoyance and withholding, not unable to benefit. It was said: 'Hurd' refers to the speed, meaning: they went out hastily and energetically for what they had resolved upon in terms of deprivation. The meaning of 'able' in this interpretation is: in their own view. It was said: 'Hurd' is the name of the mentioned garden. And their saying 'Indeed, we are lost' was said by them in the beginning of their matter, astonished by what they saw that they had not experienced before, so they believed they had strayed from it and that it was not it. Then when they realized and were certain that it was indeed it, they shifted from the first to their saying: 'Rather, we are deprived.'

So he would take from it the sustenance of his year and give charity from what remained, and he would leave for the poor what the sickle missed, and what was at the bottom of the piles. The saying 'and what is at the bottom of the piles' in the correct narrations is 'the kadas' with a dammah: one of the piles of food. And what the harvest missed from the grapes, and what remained on the mat that is spread under the palm tree when it is pruned, so they would gather for them a great deal. When he died, his sons said: 'If we do what our father used to do, the matter will become tight for us, and we are people with dependents.' So they swore to reap it in the morning, in the darkness, secretly from the poor, and they did not make an exception in their oath. So Allah destroyed their garden. It was said: They were from the Children of Israel, coming in the morning, entering early, and they did not make exceptions nor say 'if Allah wills.' If you say: Why is it called an exception, when it is merely a condition? I say: Because it leads to the meaning of exception, in that the meaning of your saying: 'I will go out if Allah wills,' is that I will not go out except that Allah wills. One of them went around it, a trial or destruction came upon it, as His saying: 'And it was surrounded by its fruits.' And it was recited: 'a trial,' so it became like the harvest, like the reaped one, for the destruction of its fruits. It was said: 'harvest' refers to the night, meaning it burned and became blackened. It was said: 'the day,' meaning it dried up and lost its greenness. Or nothing remained in it, from their saying: 'the whiteness of the vessel' when it is emptied. It was said: 'harvest' refers to the sands, reapers. If you say: Why was it not said: 'Go to your harvest,' and what is the meaning of 'upon'? I say: Because the morning was to reap it and cut it off: it was a morning upon it, as you say: 'The enemy came upon them.' And it is permissible to imply that the morning means approaching, as they say: 'He comes to him with the dish and leaves,' meaning: So they approached their harvest early, whispering among themselves.

And khafa, and khafada: all three have the meaning of concealment. From it is the khafadud for the bat, that it does not enter it, as it is explained. Ibn Mas'ud read it by dropping the saying, meaning they whisper to each other saying do not let him enter it. The prohibition of entry for the poor is a prohibition for them from allowing him to enter, meaning do not allow him to enter until he does so, like saying: do not let me see you here. Al-harad: from haradat al-sunnah if it prevents its goodness, and haradat al-ibil if it prevents its milk. The meaning is: and they became able to cause distress, not merely unable to provide benefit. This means they intended to cause distress to the poor and deprive them while they were able to benefit them. So they became in a state of poverty and loss of wealth where they could do nothing but cause distress and deprivation. This is because they sought to deprive the poor, so they hastened to deprivation and misery. Or they became in a state of hostility towards their garden and the loss of its goodness, able to do so, instead of being able to attain its goodness and benefits. That is, they became in a state of deprivation instead of benefiting. Or when they said: 'Go to your harvest' and their intention was corrupt, Allah punished them by causing their garden to be hostile and deprived them of its goodness. They did not go to harvest but rather went to hostility. And Qadirin is a reversal of the speech for mockery, meaning able to do what they intended of cutting off and depriving the poor, and to hostility which is not truly able. And it is said: al-harad means hostility.

And it was read: 'on harad', meaning they could do nothing but anger and rage against each other, like His saying: they blame each other. And it is said: al-harad means intention and speed. It is said: I hastened your hastening. And he said:

A flood came from the command of Allah... hastening the hastening of the enclosed garden. [[He describes a flood in abundance, and therefore said: from the command of Allah. It is narrated: from the command of Allah, and the alif was omitted before the ha of the name of Allah because it is permissible in stopping. And harad means to hasten, in the sense of intending and speeding, meaning: it hastens the hastening of the garden, that is, the garden that is abundant in yield and goodness. The meaning of the hastening of the garden is the appearance of its goodness before others in a short time, and it was chosen because it arises from the flood.]]

And they hurried: they meant that they set out towards their garden quickly and energetically, feeling capable within themselves. They said: We are able to harvest it and [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: zā] its benefit from the poor. It was said that [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: ḥard] is a name for the garden, meaning they went towards that garden, feeling capable of harvesting it within themselves. Or estimating that their desire for the harvest and deprivation would be fulfilled, they said upon their arrival: Indeed, we are lost, meaning we have lost our garden, and it is not as it is due to what they saw of its destruction. But when they reflected and recognized that it was indeed theirs, they said: Rather, we are deprived; we have been deprived of its goodness due to our wrongdoing against ourselves. The middle of them was the most just and the best among them, from their saying: He is from the middle of his people, and give me from the middle of your wealth. From it is His saying, the Exalted: A middle nation. If only you would glorify, meaning if only you would remember Allah and repent to Him from the evil of your intention, as if the middle of them said to them when they resolved on that: Remember Allah and His vengeance against the criminals, and repent from this wicked resolution immediately, and hasten to cut off its evil before the punishment descends. But they disobeyed him and blamed each other. The evidence for this is their saying: Glory be to our Lord, indeed we were wrongdoers. They spoke what urged them to speak after committing the sin, but after the destruction of Basra. It was said that the intended meaning of glorification is the exception for their meeting in the meaning of glorifying Allah, for the exception is a delegation to Him, and glorification is a declaration of His purity. Each of the delegation and purity is glorification. And from Al-Hasan: It is the prayer, as if they were negligent in prayer, otherwise it would have prevented them from indecency and wrongdoing, and it would have been kind for them to make an exception and not be deprived. Glory be to our Lord, they glorified Allah and declared Him free from injustice and all that is ugly, then they acknowledged their wrongdoing in preventing the good and leaving the exception. They blamed each other, for some of them adorned, and some accepted, and some commanded to refrain and excused, and some disobeyed the command, and some remained silent while being pleased to be replaced. It was read with emphasis and lightness: to our Lord, desiring, seeking goodness from Him, hoping for His pardon. Likewise, the punishment, meaning such punishment that We tested the people of Mecca and the companions of the garden with, the punishment of this world, and the punishment of the Hereafter is more severe and greater than it. And Qatadah was asked about the companions of the garden: Are they from the people of Paradise or from the people of Hell? He said: You have burdened me with a task. And from Mujahid: They repented and were replaced with better than it. It was narrated from Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him: It has reached me that they were sincere and Allah recognized their truthfulness, so He replaced them with a garden called Al-Hayawan, in which grapes are carried by a mule from a cluster.