The Quran

266

Preface

أَيَوَدُّ أَحَدُكُم أَن تَكونَ لَهُ جَنَّةٌ مِن نَخيلٍ وَأَعنابٍ تَجري مِن تَحتِهَا الأَنهارُ لَهُ فيها مِن كُلِّ الثَّمَراتِ وَأَصابَهُ الكِبَرُ وَلَهُ ذُرِّيَّةٌ ضُعَفاءُ فَأَصابَها إِعصارٌ فيهِ نارٌ فَاحتَرَقَت ۗ كَذٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمُ الآياتِ لَعَلَّكُم تَتَفَكَّرونَ

Yusuf Ali

Does any of you wish that he should have a garden¹ with date-palms and vines and streams flowing underneath, and all kinds of fruit, while he is stricken with old age, and his children are not strong (enough313 to look after themselves)- that it should be caught in a whirlwind, with fire therein, and be burnt up? Thus doth God make clear to you (His) Signs; that ye may consider.

The truly spiritual nature of charity having been explained in three parables (2:261, 264, 265) a fourth parable is now added, explaining its bearing on the whole of our life. Suppose we had a beautiful garden well-watered and fertile, with delightful views of streams, and a haven of rest for mind and body; suppose old age were creeping in on us, and our children were either too young to look after themselves or too feeble in health; how should we feel if a sudden whirlwind came with lightning or fire in its train, and burnt it up, thus blasting the whole of our hopes for the present and for the future, and destroying the result of all our labour and savings in the past? Well, this life of ours is a probation. We may work hard, we may save, we may have good luck. We may make ourselves a goodly pleasance, and have ample means of support for ourselves and our children. A great whirlwind charged with lightning and fire comes and burns up the whole show. We are too old to begin again: our children are too young or feeble to help us to repair the mischief. Our chance is lost, because we did not provide against such a contingency. The whirlwind is the “wrath to come”: the provision against it is a life of true charity and righteousness, which is the only source of true and lasting happiness in this world and the next. Without it we are subject to all the vicissitudes of this uncertain life. We may even spoil our so-called “charity” by insisting on the obligation which others owe to us or by doing some harm, because our motives are not pure.