Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:39
And why did you, when you entered your garden, not say, 'What Allah willed [has occurred]; there is no power except in Allah '? Although you see me less than you in wealth and children,
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: وَلَوْلا إِذْ دَخَلْتَ جَنَّتَكَ قُلْتَ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ لا قُوَّةَ إِلا بِاللَّهِ إِنْ تَرَنِ أَنَا أَقَلَّ مِنْكَ مَالا وَوَلَدًا (And why did you not say, when you entered your garden: 'What Allah wills — there is no power except with Allah' — if you see me as one who has less wealth and children than you? [18:39])
Allah, the Almighty, says: why did you not say, when you entered your orchard and were astonished by what you saw therein: "What Allah wills, that comes to pass" — and there is missing from the sentence an element clearly indicated by the context, which is the apodosis of the conditional construction, namely: "that came to pass." When the sentence is understood in this sense as we have said, "mā" (what) is the direct object of the verb "shāʾa" (willed). The omission of the apodosis is permissible because the meaning of the sentence is clear, as it is said: فَإِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ أَنْ تَبْتَغِيَ نَفَقًا فِي الأَرْضِ (If you are able to seek a tunnel into the earth) — where the apodosis was omitted because its meaning can be understood. Some scholars of the Arabic language said: "mā" in the word مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ is in the case of a predicate with an omitted subject, as though it were said: it is what Allah willed.
لا قُوَّةَ إِلا بِاللَّهِ (There is no power except with Allah) — He says: there is no power to obey except through Him.
The word إِنْ تَرَنِي أَنَا أَقَلَّ مِنْكَ مَالا وَوَلَدًا (If you see me as one who has less wealth and children than you) — this is the word of the believer who had neither wealth nor kinsfolk, resembling the owner of the two gardens with his kinsfolk. He is like Salmān, Ṣuhayb, and Khabbāb. He says: the believer said to the unbeliever: If you see me, O man, as one who has less wealth and children than you — and when "anā" is regarded as a parenthetical, "aqall" stands in the accusative, and so is the recitation according to our judgment, because the recitation of the great cities rests upon that; and when it is regarded as a noun, "aqall" stands in the nominative.
