Tafseer of Sheba · Saba · 34:16
But they turned away [refusing], so We sent upon them the flood of the dam, and We replaced their two [fields of] gardens with gardens of bitter fruit, tamarisks and something of sparse lote trees.
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 discourse on the exegesis of His statement, the Exalted: فَأَعْرَضُوا فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَيْلَ الْعَرِمِ وَبَدَّلْنَاهُمْ بِجَنَّتَيْهِمْ جَنَّتَيْنِ ذَوَاتَيْ أُكُلٍ خَمْطٍ وَأَثْلٍ وَشَيْءٍ مِنْ سِدْرٍ قَلِيلٍ (16) (But they turned away, so We sent upon them the flood of the dam (al-ʿArim), and We exchanged their two gardens for two gardens with bitter fruits, tamarisk, and a little of what are lote-trees.) (16)
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Sabaʾ turned away from obedience to its Lord and turned aside from following that to which its messengers called it, namely that He is its Creator.
As Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī, he said: Allah indeed sent thirteen prophets to Sabaʾ, but they denied them. (so We sent upon them the flood of the dam) — the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: We breached upon them, when they turned away from believing in Our messengers, their dam which held back the floods from them.
And al-ʿArim is the dyke that holds back the water; its singular is ʿarima. And to that al-Aʿshā alluded with his statement:
"Therein for the one consoled is an example, and Maʾrib, over which al-ʿArim (the dam) has passed;
A firm structure that Ḥimyar raised up for them, so that when their water came, it did not flow away."
And al-ʿArim was, according to what is mentioned, something that Bilqīs had built.
* Mention of who said that:
Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dawraqī related to us, he said: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to me, he said: my father related to us, he said: I heard al-Mughīra ibn Ḥakīm say: When Bilqīs became ruler, her people began to fight over the water of their wadi. She began to forbid them, but they did not obey her, so she left her kingship and departed to a palace of hers and abandoned them. When the evil among them increased and they repented, they came to her and wanted to move her to return to her kingship, but she refused. They said: You return, or we will kill you. She said: You do not obey me and you have no understanding, and you do not obey me. They said: We will obey you, for we have found no good among us after you. Then she came and commanded (something to be done) with their wadi, and it was dammed with al-ʿArim.
Aḥmad said: Wahb said: my father said: I asked al-Mughīra ibn Ḥakīm about al-ʿArim, and he said: that is, in the language of Ḥimyar, the dyke. She dammed what lay between the two mountains and held back the water behind the dam, and she made in it doors, one above the other, and she built before the dam a great basin, and she made in it twelve outlets according to the number of their rivers. When the rain came, the stream was held back behind the dam, and she commanded the upper door, and it was opened, so that the water from it flowed into the basin; and she commanded (that) the manure be thrown into it, and some of the manure began to come out faster than other (parts of it), and those rivers kept becoming narrower and narrower, and she released the manure into the water until it all came out together. Thus she divided it among them in that manner, until between her and Sulaymān occurred what occurred.
Aḥmad ibn ʿUmar al-Baṣrī related to us, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ ibn Zurayq related to us, he said: Sharīk informed us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū Maysara, concerning His statement (so We sent upon them the flood of the dam), he said: the dyke, in the dialect of Yemen.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah (the flood of al-ʿArim), he said: severe. And it has been said: al-ʿArim is the name of a wadi belonging to this people.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement (so We sent upon them the flood of al-ʿArim), he said: a wadi that was in Yemen; it flowed in the direction of Mecca, and they drank from it, and their stream ended in it.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda (so We sent upon them the flood of al-ʿArim): it has been mentioned to us that the flood of al-ʿArim was a wadi in which water-channels gathered from various wadis; therefore they proceeded and dammed what lay between the two mountains with pitch and stones, and they made doors upon it, and they took from its water what they needed, and they held off from themselves what they did not want of its water.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement (so We sent upon them the flood of al-ʿArim): a wadi that was called al-ʿArim; and when it rained, the wadis of Yemen flowed to al-ʿArim, and the water gathered in it. Then Sabaʾ turned to al-ʿArim and dammed what lay between the two mountains, and they sealed it off with boulders and pitch, and it remained sealed for a time; they did not hope for water — he says: they did not fear (a lack of water).
And others said: al-ʿArim is a description of the dyke they had, and it is not a name for it.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement (the flood of al-ʿArim), he says: the severe. And the cause that Allah set as the occasion for sending that flood upon them was — according to what was related to me — a (water-)rat that Allah let loose against their dam, which bored a hole in it.
Then the people of knowledge differed concerning the nature of what happened through that hole, by which the destruction of their two gardens occurred.
Some of them said: the nature of that was that the stream, when it found an effect in the dam, worked (further) in it, and thereafter the water flowed over their gardens and drowned them and destroyed their land and their dwellings.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī, he said: They — that is, Sabaʾ — had a dam, which they had built as an everlasting structure, and it was that which held off the stream from them when it came, so that it would not flood their possessions. And it belonged — according to what they claim — to their knowledge from their soothsaying, that only a mouse would destroy their dam. Therefore they left no opening between two stones unguarded, but they tied a cat there. When the time for it came and what Allah willed with them of drowning, there came — according to what they relate — a red mouse to one of those cats and leapt at it, until the cat retreated before it; then it entered the opening that was there, and it penetrated deep into the dam and dug in it until it weakened it before the stream, while they did not know. When the stream came, it found a breach and penetrated it, until it tore loose the dam and flowed over the possessions and carried them away; there remained of that nothing except what Allah has mentioned. When they scattered, they settled according to the soothsaying of ʿImrān ibn ʿĀmir.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: When the people abandoned the command of Allah, Allah sent upon them a (water-)rat called al-khuld (the blind-mouse/mole), which bored through it from below until their gardens were drowned by it and their land was destroyed by it, as punishment for their deeds.
It was related to us on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: When they became excessive and rebelled — that is, Sabaʾ — Allah sent upon them a (water-)rat that broke the dam for them, so that Allah drowned them.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: Allah sent upon it a (water-)rat and gave it power over that which held back the water with which she (irrigated the gardens), and it destroyed the openings of those stones and all of it, of lead and the rest, until it reduced it to mere stones; then Allah sent the flood of al-ʿArim, which tore loose that dam and what it held back, and tore loose those two gardens and carried them away. And he recited (so We sent upon them the flood of al-ʿArim, and We exchanged their two gardens for two gardens), he said: He carried away those villages and those two gardens.
And others said: the nature of that was that the water with which they brought their gardens to flourish flowed to a place other than the place where they derived benefit from it, and through that their gardens were destroyed.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: Allah sent upon them — that is, upon al-ʿArim — a creature from the earth, which bored a hole in it, so that that water flowed to a place other than the place where they derived benefit from it; and Allah exchanged for them, in place of their two gardens, two gardens with bitter fruits (ukul khamṭ), and that was when they became disobedient and squandered the provision.
And the first view accords more closely with what the apparent meaning of the revelation indicates, for Allah, the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, has reported that He sent upon them the flood of al-ʿArim, and the sending of it upon them can only take place by making it flow over them, or over their gardens and their land — not by turning it away from them.
And His statement (and We exchanged their two gardens for two gardens with bitter fruits) — the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: And We made for them, in place of their orchards with fruits and crops, orchards with the harvested fruit of the arāk-tree; and the arāk is the khamṭ.
And in the sense of what we have said concerning this, the people of exegesis have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: Allah exchanged for them, in place of their two gardens, two gardens with bitter fruits (khamṭ); and the khamṭ is the arāk.
Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, he said: I heard al-Ḥasan say concerning His statement (with bitter fruits, khamṭ), he said: I think he said: the khamṭ is the arāk.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to me, he said: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā, on the authority of Mujāhid (fruits, khamṭ), he said: the khamṭ is the arāk.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid (with bitter fruits, khamṭ), he said: the arāk.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda (with bitter fruits, khamṭ): and the khamṭ is the arāk, and its fruit is the barīr (the ripe arāk-berry).
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement (and We exchanged their two gardens for two gardens with bitter fruits, khamṭ), he said: Allah exchanged for them the gardens with fruits and grapes, when their gardens became khamṭ, and that is the arāk.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement (and We exchanged their two gardens for two gardens), he said: He carried away those villages and those two gardens and exchanged for them what He has told you: with bitter fruits (khamṭ); he said: and the khamṭ is the arāk; he said: He made in place of the grape the arāk, and (in place of) the fruit the tamarisk (athl) and a little of what are lote-trees (sidr).
And the reciters differed in the reading of it. The general reciters of the regions read it with tanwīn on "ukul," except Abū ʿAmr, for he annexes it to "khamṭ" (in a genitive construction) with the meaning: with the fruit of khamṭ. As for those who did not annex that to "khamṭ" and read "al-ukul" with tanwīn, they made the khamṭ equivalent to the ukul (the fruit), and let it revert to it in its case-ending. And with a ḍamma on the alif and the kāf of "al-ukul" read the reciters of the regions, except Nāfiʿ, for he lightened it (reading "ukl").
And the correct reading therein, according to me, is the reading of the one who read it (with bitter fruits, dhawātay ukul) with a ḍamma on the alif and the kāf, because of the consensus of the authoritative proof of the reciters concerning that; and with tanwīn on "ukul" because of the widespread currency of the reading with it among the reciters of the regions — without my regarding as erroneous the reading of the one who read that with annexing it to "khamṭ." And that, in its annexation and the omission of annexation, is comparable to the statement of the Arabs: "in the orchard of so-and-so are aʿnābu karmin (grapes of a vine)" and "aʿnābun karmun"; so sometimes one annexes "the grapes" to "the vine," because they are of it, and sometimes one uses tanwīn and then specifies it further with "the vine," since the grapes are the fruit of the vine.
And as for the athl: it is called al-ṭarfāʾ (tamarisk); and it has been said: a tree resembling the ṭarfāʾ, except that it is larger than it; and it has been said: it is the samur (a species of acacia).
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, he said: Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās (and tamarisk, athl), he said: the athl is the ṭarfāʾ.
And His statement (and a little of what are lote-trees, sidr) says: with bitter fruits (khamṭ) and tamarisk (athl) and a little of what are lote-trees.
And Qatāda used to say concerning that what Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to me, on the authority of Qatāda (with bitter fruits, and tamarisk and a little of what are lote-trees), he said: Whereas the trees of the people were the best of trees, Allah made them the worst of trees because of their deeds.
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The footnotes:
(1) The two verses are by al-Aʿshā of Banū Qays ibn Thaʿlaba (his dīwān, Cairo edition, p. 43), from a poem in which he praises Qays ibn Maʿdī Karib, in the metre al-mutaqārib. In it stands "waqqā" in place of "ʿaffā," and "rakhām" with the khāʾ in place of "rijām" with the jīm. And in some manuscripts of the dīwān: "muwārah" in place of "māʾuhu." Al-Farrāʾ said: His statement (the flood of al-ʿArim) — it was a dyke that held back the water, upon three doors of it. They drank of that water from the first door (the uppermost), then the second (the middle), then the last (the lowest); and it did not run out until the water of the coming year returned. They were the people with the most abundant provision; when they turned away and denied the messengers, Allah caused that dyke to burst for them, so that their land was drowned and the sand buried their houses. And the two verses are among the citations of Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān, and his transmission reads: "qafā" in place of "ʿaffā," and it is of the same meaning; and "rakhām" with the khāʾ in place of "rijām," and the rijām are the mighty boulders, the plural of rujma; they are placed upon the grave and the like. And he explained his statement "lam yarim": that is, it held it back; and the pronoun refers to the water. And he said concerning His statement, the Exalted: (the flood of al-ʿarim): its singular is ʿarima, and that is a structure like the mashān, with which the water is held back, so that it rises above the water in the middle of the land, and one leaves in it passages for the ship. Those are the ʿaramāt; their singular is ʿarima. Thus. And in (al-Lisān, entry sanā): al-musannāh is al-ʿarim. And in (al-Lisān, entry ʿaram): al-ʿarim, with fatḥa on the rāʾ and with kasra on it, and likewise its singular, and that is al-ʿarima; and al-ʿarim is a dam that closes off the wadi, and the plural is ʿuram. And it has been said: al-ʿarim is a plural without a singular. And Abū Ḥanīfa said: al-ʿaram (sic) are the embankments that are built in the middle of the wadis. Thus. And that is what we today call: reservoirs or barrages (dams).
