The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 658
CH. 18 AL-KAHF not the least therein. And in between the two We caused a stream to flow. 2074 35. And he had fruit in PT. 15 شَيْئًا وَفَجَّرْنَا خِلْلَهُمَا نَهَرَّان وَكَانَ لَهُ ثَمَرٌ ۚ فَقَالَ لِصَاحِبِهِ وَهُوَ يُحَاوِرُةٌ أَنَا أَكْثَرُ مِنْكَ مَا لا وَاَعَزُّ companion, arguing boastfully نَفَرا abundance. And he said to his with him, 'I am richer than thou in wealth and stronger in respect of men. '2075 2074. Commentary: Singular number of the verbs - and shows that the two gardens in reality, two parts of one and were, the same garden. The words, and failed not the least therein, indicate that these were not gardens in the literal sense of the word but gardens in a metaphorical sense because it is against the laws of nature that trees should continue to yield abundant fruits in many consecutive seasons. But the trees of the gardens mentioned in this verse yielded fruits uniformly in abundance. This shows that they were gardens in the metaphorical sense only. 2075. Important Words: (arguing boastfully with him) is derived from. They sayi. e. he returned to a thing. means, he returned him answer for answer; held dialogue or debate with him; he vied with him for superiority in glorying or boasting or the like (Lane & Aqrab). Commentary: Now as to the meaning of the parable as a whole. In the beginning of the Surah it was said that the Holy Prophet had already conveyed the Message of God to the Meccans, and Christians also. Again, reference was that he was now going to convey it to made to the history of early Christians who endured untold persecutions for their belief in the Unity of God and whose successors became idol-worshippers and were entirely engrossed in the pursuit of material wealth. The Quranic parable bears very close resemblance to the parable of the vineyard in the Gospels (Mark 12:1-12; Matt. 21:33-46 & Luke 20:9-19). It speaks of two peoples- Muslims and Christians. The master of the garden in the Quranic parable represents Christian peoples, and the "grapevines" stand for increase in their wealth and offspring. The hedge of date-palms denotes their armed forces which in the days of their power and glory will safeguard their possessions. 1866 The parable speaks of two gardens which denotes that Christian peoples in their chequered history were to rise to great power twice. The first period preceded the advent of Islam while the second began with the dawn of the 17th century A. D. , when Christian