Tafsir of Surah Al-Kahf - Verse 38

The Response of the Poor Believer

Allah tells us how the rich man's believing companion replied to him, warning and rebuking him for his disbelief in Allah and allowing himself to be deceived.

أَكَفَرْتَ بِالَّذِى خَلَقَكَ مِن تُرَابٍ

(Do you disbelieve in Him Who created you out of dust...) This is a denunciation, pointing out the seriousness of his rejection of his Lord Who created and formed man out of dust -- that is, refering to Adam -- then made his offspring from despised liquid, as Allah says:

كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَكُنتُمْ أَمْوَتًا فَأَحْيَـكُمْ

(How can you disbelieve in Allah Seeing that you were dead and He gave you life) 2:28 meaning, how can you reject your Lord and His clear signs to you, which every one recognizes in himself, for there is no one among His creatures who does not know that he was nothing, then he came to be, and his existence is not due to himself or any other creature. He knows that his existence is due to his Creator, beside Whom there is no other god, the Creator of all things. So the believer said:

لَّكِنَّ هُوَ اللَّهُ رَبِّى

(But as for my part, (I believe) that He is Allah, my Lord,) meaning, `I do not say what you say; rather I acknowledge the Oneness and Lordship of Allah,'

وَلاَ أُشْرِكُ بِرَبِّى أَحَدًا

(and none shall I associate as partner with my Lord. ) meaning, He is Allah, the One Who is to be worshipped Alone, with no partner or associate. Then he said:

وَلَوْلا إِذْ دَخَلْتَ جَنَّتَكَ قُلْتَ مَا شَآءَ اللَّهُ لاَ قُوَّةَ إِلاَّ بِاللَّهِ إِن تَرَنِ أَنَاْ أَقَلَّ مِنكَ مَالاً وَوَلَدًا

(It was better for you to say, when you entered your garden, `That which Allah wills! There is no power but with Allah!' If you see me less than you in wealth, and children.) Here he was urging and encouraging him to say that, as if he was saying, "When you entered your garden and looked at it and liked it, why would'nt you praise Allah for the blessings He gave you and the wealth and children that He has given to you and not to others Why did you not say `That which Allah wills! There is no power but with Allah!"' One of the Salaf said, "Whoever is delighted with something in his circumstances or his wealth or his children, let him say, `That which Allah wills! There is no power but with Allah!"' This is based on this Ayah. It was reported in the Sahih from Abu Musa that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«أَلَا أَدُلُّكَ عَلَى كَنْزٍ مِنْ كُنُوزِ الْجَنَّةِ؟ لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِالله»

(Shall I not tell you about some of the treasure of Paradise La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah (There is no power or might but with Allah).)

فعسَى رَبِّى أَن يُؤْتِيَنِ خَيْرًا مِّن جَنَّتِكَ

(It may be that my Lord will give me something better than your garden, ) in the Hereafter

وَيُرْسِلَ عَلَيْهَا

(and will send on it) on your garden in this world, which you think will never come to an end or cease to be,

حُسْبَانًا مِّنَ السَّمَآءِ

(Husban from the sky,) Ibn `Abbas, Ad-Dahhak and Qatadah said -- and Malik narrated that Az-Zuhri said -- a punishment from heaven. The apparent meaning is that it is a mighty rain which would disrupt his garden and uproot its plants and trees. As he said:

فَتُصْبِحَ صَعِيدًا زَلَقًا

(then it will be as a barren slippery earth.) meaning, smooth mud in which one cannot get a foothold. Ibn `Abbas said, "Like land without vegetation, where nothing grows."

أَوْ يُصْبِحَ مَآؤُهَا غَوْرًا

(Or the water thereof becomes Ghawran) means, it disappears into the earth, which is the opposite of flowing water that seeks the surface of the earth. So Gha'ir is to go lower. as Allah says:

قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَصْبَحَ مَآؤُكُمْ غَوْراً فَمَن يَأْتِيكُمْ بِمَآءٍ مَّعِينٍ

(Say: "Tell me! If your water were Ghawran, who then can supply you with flowing water") 67: 30 meaning, water that flows in all directions. And here Allah says:

أَوْ يُصْبِحَ مَآؤُهَا غَوْرًا فَلَن تَسْتَطِيعَ لَهُ طَلَبًا

(Or the water thereof (of the gardens) becomes deep-sunken (underground) so that you will never be able to seek it.) Ghawr is from the same root as Gha'ir and has a similar meaning, but is more intensive.

Commentary

The word: ثَمَرٌ‌ (thamar) in: وَكَانَ لَهُ ثَمَرٌ‌ (And he had wealth - 34) means the fruit of trees as well as wealth, in an absolute sense. At this place, Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، Mujahid and Qatadah have taken it in the later sense (Ibn Kathir) According to the Lexicon, al-Qamus, this word is used to denote the fruit of the tree and wealth of all kinds. This tells us that not only did he own gardens and farms, he also had gold, silver and other luxuries. Even his words reported by the Qur'an: (I am greater than you in wealth -34) also express the same sense. (Ibn Kathir)

About the statement: مَا شآء اللہ لا قُوَۃَ اِلَّا بِاللہِ : "[ Everything is ] as Allah wills. There is no power except with Allah," it has been reported in Shu'ab al-'Iman on the authority of Sayyidna Anas ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, "whoever sees something, likes it - and says 'masha'Allahu la quwwata illa bil-lah' - nothing will harm it (that is, what he likes will stay protected).' And it appears in other reports, 'whoever recites this kalimah when he likes something he sees, it will stay protected against the evil eye.'

The gist of the arguments of these two persons, as explained by Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanavi (رح) in Khulasa-e-Tafsir

These verses have described the event of two persons one of whom had a lot of wealth and, proud of it, he refused to accept that there is any life after death, and if there is one, he claimed, he will be given more wealth and reward therein. His argument was that if Allah was not pleased with him, he would not have this amount of wealth in this world.

The other person, though less than him in wealth, was a true believer. He refuted the argument of the former one by saying that the worldly wealth is not a sign of one's being close to Allah, because the worldly benefits are given by Allah, in one way or the other, even to the disbelievers and sinful persons, rather to the snakes, scorpions and beasts. It is a horrible mistake to presume that they are the signs of one's being approved by Allah. Therefore, neither your wealth is the proof of your behaviour being approved by Allah, nor my lesser wealth is a proof of disapproval by Him. Allah's approval or disapproval depends on one's faith and deeds alone and not on the amount of wealth one has.

If God showers His blessings on a man, he should always remain grateful to Him. But, if he does not possess the right mentality, prosperity becomes the cause of arrogance and vanity developing in him. On the contrary, one who possesses the right mentality does not forget God, even in poverty. He is content with whatever he has, while entertaining the hope that God will give him more. A man who lives in this world with open eyes will never indulge in impudence or arrogance. Man is brought up as a humble creature. He is subject to accidents, disease and old age. Neither the water nor the other things with the help of which he cultivates his ‘Garden’ in this world personally belong to him. All this is in order to ensure that man should live in this world with humility and modesty. But the transgressor does not learn any lesson from any of these things. He does not come to his senses until he loses everything and only after being deprived of everything does he come to realise—after seeing it with his own eyes—that he possessed nothing but total helplessness.