Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:58
And the good land - its vegetation emerges by permission of its Lord; but that which is bad - nothing emerges except sparsely, with difficulty. Thus do We diversify the signs for a people who are grateful.
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 His word: وَالْبَلَدُ الطَّيِّبُ يَخْرُجُ نَبَاتُهُ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِ وَالَّذِي خَبُثَ لا يَخْرُجُ إِلا نَكِدًا كَذَلِكَ نُصَرِّفُ الآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَشْكُرُونَ (7:58) (And the good land brings forth its vegetation by the permission of its Lord, but that which is bad brings forth only scantily and with difficulty. Thus do We expound the signs for a people who are thankful.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: the land whose soil is good and whose drinking waters are sweet brings forth its vegetation when Allah sends down the rain and releases the rain-shower upon it, by His permission, with good fruit at its proper time and moment. But that which is bad — whose soil is corrupt and whose drinking waters are salty — brings forth its vegetation only scantily and with difficulty.
He says: only with difficulty, in hardship, as the poet said:
"You do not fulfill the promise, if you promise; and if you give, then you give something trifling and meager (nakidā)."
By "the trifling" (tāfih) he means: the paltry, and by "the meager" (nakid): the laborious. One says of this: "nakida yankad nakadan and nakdan, so that he is nakad and nakid", and al-nukd is the verbal noun (maṣdar). Among their proverbs is: "nakdan wa-juḥdan" and "nukdan wa-juḥdan". And "al-juḥd" is hardship and distress. One says: "When someone is worn out by much asking and is asked: scarcity has been imposed upon him (qad nakadūhu yankadūnahu nakdan)", as the poet said:
"And give what you give in a good-natured way; there is no good in the meager and the laborious."
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The reciters differed concerning the recitation of this.
Some of the people of Medina recited it: (إلا نَكَدًا), with a fatḥa on the kāf.
* * *
Some of the Kūfans recited it with a sukūn on the kāf: (نَكْدًا).
* * *
The remaining reciters in the various lands diverged from both of them and recited it: (إلا نَكِدًا), with a kasra on the kāf.
* * *
It is as though the one who recited it as "nakadan" with a fatḥa on the kāf intended the verbal noun (maṣdar).
And it is as though the one who recited it with a sukūn on the kāf intended its kasra, but rendered it with sukūn according to the usage of one who says: "this is fikhḏ and kibḏ". But what was incumbent upon him, had he intended that, was that he should pronounce the nūn of "nakid" with a kasra, so that he would conform to the analogy.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view concerning the recitation of this is, according to us, the recitation of the one who recited it: (نَكِدًا), with a fatḥa on the nūn and a kasra on the kāf, because of the consensus of the proof of the reciters of the lands upon this.
* * *
And His word: "Thus do We expound the signs for a people who are thankful", He says: thus do We clarify sign after sign, bring forth proof after proof, and set forth parable after parable, for a people who are thankful to Allah for His favor upon them through guidance, and His granting them insight into the path of the people of error, in that they follow what He has commanded them to follow, and refrain from that which He has commanded them to refrain from of the paths of error. This is a parable that Allah has set forth for the believer and the unbeliever (kāfir): the good land, whose vegetation comes forth by the permission of its Lord, is a parable for the believer — and that which is bad, whose vegetation comes forth only scantily and with difficulty, is a parable for the unbeliever (kāfir).
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
14786 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "And the good land brings forth its vegetation by the permission of its Lord, but that which is bad brings forth only scantily", this is a parable that Allah has set forth for the believer. He says: he is good, and his work is good, like the good land whose fruit is good. Then He set forth the parable of the unbeliever (kāfir) as the briny, salty land out of which the welling water (al-nazz) comes forth. Thus is the unbeliever (kāfir) the bad one, and his work is bad.
14787 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: "And the good land" and "that which is bad", he said: all of that is of the earth, the briny and the rest, as a parable for Ādam and his progeny: among them are good and bad.
14788 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, with similar import.
14789 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "And the good land brings forth its vegetation by the permission of its Lord, but that which is bad brings forth only scantily", he said: this is a parable that Allah has set forth for the unbeliever (kāfir) and the believer.
14790 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad — that is, Ibn al-Mufaḍḍal — related to me, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And the good land brings forth its vegetation by the permission of its Lord, but that which is bad", that is the briny land whose vegetation comes forth only scantily — and "al-nakad" is the paltry thing that does not benefit. So too are the hearts when the Qurʾān descended: the believing heart, when the Qurʾān entered into it, believed in it and the faith established itself therein; and the unbelieving heart, when the Qurʾān entered into it, did not cling to anything of it that would benefit it, and nothing of the faith established itself therein except that which does not benefit, just as this land brought forth only that which does not benefit of vegetation.
14791 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Saʿd related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid: "And the good land brings forth its vegetation by the permission of its Lord, but that which is bad brings forth only scantily", he said: the good land — the rain benefits it, so it brings forth; "and that which is bad" — the briny grounds, the rain does not benefit it, its vegetation comes forth only scantily. He said: this is a parable that Allah has set forth for Ādam and his progeny, all together; for they were created from a single soul. Among them is he who believed in Allah and His Book, and became good. And among them is he who disbelieved in Allah and His Book, and became bad.
