This incident took place a few days after the ascension of Sayyiduna ‘Isa towards the heavens. In Yemen, near the city of San’ a, there was a garden named as ‘Dardaan’, which was two miles away from the city. This garden was the property of a very pious and a generous man. It was a common custom to him that at the time of fruit picking, he would call the needy and poor people. He would then announce that any fruit that falls down on the ground due to wind, or the one that falls outside the collection tray, they may take it. In this way, a large quantity of fruit of that garden was distributed among the poor and needy people.
When the owner of the garden died, his three sons became the owners of his garden. But they were very miser. They decided amongst themselves that if they called the poor and needy, then a huge quantity of fruit will be taken by them, and their family would get less earnings. Therefore, these three brothers swore an oath and decided to pick all the fruits before the sunrise so that the poor and needy would not be aware of it. Nevertheless, the adversity of their ill intention resulted in such a way that all of a sudden, Allah sent a fire to the garden during the night time, which burnt the whole garden to ashes. The three sons did not have any idea of what had happened. According to their plan, they went very quietly to pick the fruit of the garden in the last part of the night. On their way, they were cautiously whispering to each other, so that their secret activity may remain hidden from the poor and needy. When these people reached the garden, they were stunned to see the burnt trees.
Meanwhile, one of them spoke, ‘We have lost our way and have entered in someone else’s garden.’ However, among these three brothers, the one who was comparatively pious said, ‘We have not lost our way but Allah has deprived us from these fruits. Therefore, pray to Allah ‘. Subsequently, all
of them started reciting this all the dignity rests
with our Rab; of course we are callous and oppressed that we deprived the needy and deserving people from their share. Then, the three brothers started condemning each other and finally said:
Hopefully, our Lord may give us a better replacement (i.e. garden) than this, we
turn towards our Lord.
[Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)J (Part 29, Surah Al-Qalam, Ayah 32)
Sayyiduna ‘Abdullah Bin Mas’ ood has said, ‘When these people sincerely repented over their sins, then Allah accepted their repentance and blessed them with an alternate garden that started yielding more luscious fruits. This garden was known as ‘Haywan’. I ts grapes were so big that one bunch of grapes would be carried by a mule.
It is reported by Abu Khalid Yamaani: I personally visited and observed garden and saw that a bunch of grapes was equal to the height of a Habashi (Ethiopian) man. (Tajseer As-Saawi, vol. 6, pp. 2216; part 29, Surah Al-Qalam, Ayah 32)
When the owner of the garden died, his three sons became the owners of his garden. But they were very miser. They decided amongst themselves that if they called the poor and needy, then a huge quantity of fruit will be taken by them, and their family would get less earnings. Therefore, these three brothers swore an oath and decided to pick all the fruits before the sunrise so that the poor and needy would not be aware of it. Nevertheless, the adversity of their ill intention resulted in such a way that all of a sudden, Allah sent a fire to the garden during the night time, which burnt the whole garden to ashes. The three sons did not have any idea of what had happened. According to their plan, they went very quietly to pick the fruit of the garden in the last part of the night. On their way, they were cautiously whispering to each other, so that their secret activity may remain hidden from the poor and needy. When these people reached the garden, they were stunned to see the burnt trees.
Meanwhile, one of them spoke, ‘We have lost our way and have entered in someone else’s garden.’ However, among these three brothers, the one who was comparatively pious said, ‘We have not lost our way but Allah has deprived us from these fruits. Therefore, pray to Allah ‘. Subsequently, all
of them started reciting this all the dignity rests
with our Rab; of course we are callous and oppressed that we deprived the needy and deserving people from their share. Then, the three brothers started condemning each other and finally said:
Hopefully, our Lord may give us a better replacement (i.e. garden) than this, we
turn towards our Lord.
[Kanz-ul-Iman (Translation of Quran)J (Part 29, Surah Al-Qalam, Ayah 32)
Sayyiduna ‘Abdullah Bin Mas’ ood has said, ‘When these people sincerely repented over their sins, then Allah accepted their repentance and blessed them with an alternate garden that started yielding more luscious fruits. This garden was known as ‘Haywan’. I ts grapes were so big that one bunch of grapes would be carried by a mule.
It is reported by Abu Khalid Yamaani: I personally visited and observed garden and saw that a bunch of grapes was equal to the height of a Habashi (Ethiopian) man. (Tajseer As-Saawi, vol. 6, pp. 2216; part 29, Surah Al-Qalam, Ayah 32)
Moral:
We learn from this event that generosity and good intention have positive outcome that increase the wealth and assets. However, miserliness and bad intention results otherwise. It can also be learnt that by repenting sincerely from sins, Allah restores the lost blessings to an even greater extent. It is true that
