Tafseer of Sheba · Saba · 34:15
There was for [the tribe of] Saba' in their dwelling place a sign: two [fields of] gardens on the right and on the left. [They were told], "Eat from the provisions of your Lord and be grateful to Him. A good land [have you], and a forgiving Lord."
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 saying of the Exalted: لَقَدْ كَانَ لِسَبَإٍ فِي مَسْكَنِهِمْ آيَةٌ جَنَّتَانِ عَنْ يَمِينٍ وَشِمَالٍ كُلُوا مِنْ رِزْقِ رَبِّكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لَهُ بَلْدَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ وَرَبٌّ غَفُورٌ (34:15) (Indeed, for Sabaʾ there was in their dwelling place a sign: two gardens, on the right and on the left. Eat of the provision of your Lord and be grateful to Him. A good land, and a forgiving Lord.) (34:15)
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: Indeed, for the descendants of Sabaʾ there was in their dwelling place a clear sign and a plain proof that they have no lord except the One who bestowed upon them the favors in which they found themselves.
And "Sabaʾ", according to the Messenger of Allah, is the name of the forefather of the Yemenis.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥayyān al-Kalbī, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Hāniʾ, on the authority of ʿUrwa al-Murādī, on the authority of a man of theirs called Farwa ibn Musayk, who said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, inform me about Sabaʾ, what was it? Was it a man or a woman, or a mountain, or animals? He said: "No, it was a man of the Arabs, and he had ten children; six of them went southward (to the Yemen) and four of them went northward (to Syria). As for those who went southward: they are Kinda, Ḥimyar, al-Azd, the Ashʿariyyūn, Madhḥij and Anmār, from whom Khathʿam and Bujayla descend. And as for those who went northward: they are ʿĀmila, Judhām, Lakhm and Ghassān."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, saying: al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: Abū Sabra al-Nakhaʿī related to us, on the authority of Farwa ibn Musayk al-Quṭayʿī, who said: A man said: O Messenger of Allah, inform me about Sabaʾ, what is it? A land or a woman? He said: It is not a land and not a woman, but it is a man who begot ten children; six went southward and four went northward. As for those who went northward: they are Lakhm, Judhām, ʿĀmila and Ghassān, and as for those who went southward: they are Kinda, the Ashʿariyyūn, al-Azd, Madhḥij, Ḥimyar and Anmār. Then a man said: What is Anmār? He said: "Those from whom Khathʿam and Bujayla descend."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: al-ʿAnqazī related to us, saying: Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr informed me, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Hāniʾ al-Murādī, on the authority of his father or on the authority of his uncle (Asbāṭ doubts), who said: Farwa ibn Musayk came to the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and said: O Messenger of Allah, inform me about Sabaʾ, was it a mountain or a land? He said: "It was not a mountain and not a land, but it was a man of the Arabs who begot ten tribes", and then he mentioned something similar, except that he said: "And Anmār, of whom they say that from them descend Bujayla and Khathʿam." So if the matter is as has been transmitted from the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, namely that Sabaʾ is a man, then both the declension (of the word with tanwīn, ijrāʾ) and the non-declension are equivalent: the declension on the basis that it is the name of a known man, and the leaving off of the declension on the basis that it is the name of a tribe or a land. And scholars among the Qurʾān reciters have recited it in both ways.
The reciters differ over the recitation of His word (فِي مَسْكَنِهِمْ). The general reciters of Medina and Basra and some of the Kufans recite it (فِي مَسَاكِنِهِمْ) in the plural, in the meaning of: the dwellings of the lineage of Sabaʾ. And the general reciters of Kufa recite it (فِي مَسْكِنِهِمْ) in the singular, with a kasra on the kāf; that is a dialect of the people of the Yemen, as has been related to me. And Ḥamza recited (مَسْكَنِهِمْ) in the singular with a fatḥa on the kāf.
The correct judgment regarding this is, in our view: that all of these are recitations that are close to one another in meaning, so whichever of them the reciter recites, he attains what is correct.
And His word (آيَةٌ) — its meaning we have already expounded earlier.
And as for His word (جَنَّتَانِ عَنْ يَمِينٍ وَشِمَالٍ), by it He means: two gardens that lay between two mountains, on the right and on the left of whoever went to them.
And as for their nature, it has been related to us: Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sulaymān related to us, saying: Abū Hilāl related to us, saying: I heard Qatāda say concerning His word (لَقَدْ كَانَ لِسَبَإٍ فِي مَسْكَنِهِمْ آيَةٌ جَنَّتَانِ عَنْ يَمِينٍ وَشِمَالٍ): They were two gardens between two mountains, and the woman would go out with her basket on her head and walk between two mountains, and her basket would fill itself without her stretching out her hand. But when they became insolent, Allah sent upon them an animal called "juradh" (rat), which burrowed beneath them and drowned them, so that nothing remained for them except tamarisk trees and a few lote-trees.
Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word (لَقَدْ كَانَ لِسَبَإٍ فِي مَسْكَنِهِمْ آيَةٌ جَنَّتَانِ عَنْ يَمِينٍ وَشِمَالٍ ...) up to His word (فَأَعْرَضُوا فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَيْلَ الْعَرِمِ): In their village a mosquito was never seen, nor a fly, nor a flea, nor a scorpion, nor a snake, and when travelers came while there were lice and crawling creatures in their clothing, they had only to look at their houses and the creatures would die. He said: And a person would enter the two gardens and hold the basket on his head, and when he came out that basket would be filled with all kinds of fruits without his having touched any of it with his hand. He said: And the dam (al-sadd) irrigated them.
And "the two gardens" (الجنتان) in His word (جَنَّتَانِ عَنْ يَمِينٍ وَشِمَالٍ) is put in the nominative as an explanation of "the sign" (الآية), because the meaning of the statement is: Indeed, for Sabaʾ there was in their dwelling place a sign, namely two gardens on the right and on the left of them.
And His word (كُلُوا مِنْ رِزْقِ رَبِّكُمْ): who provides for you from these two gardens, from their crops and their fruits. (وَاشْكُرُوا لَهُ): for the favor He has bestowed upon you in that provision of His. And up to here the statement reaches. Then a new statement begins about the land, and it is said: This is a good land, that is to say: it is not saline, but it is as we have mentioned of its characteristic on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd, that it was as Ibn Zayd described it, namely that there was nothing harmful in it: insects, vermin and pests. (وَرَبٌّ غَفُورٌ) He says: and a Lord who forgives your sins if you obey Him.
And in accordance with what we have said regarding this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word (بَلْدَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ وَرَبٌّ غَفُورٌ): and your Lord forgives your sins; a people upon whom Allah bestowed a favor, and whom He commanded to obey Him and whom He forbade to disobey Him.
