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266. " would any of you like that there should be for him a garden of date
palms and vines beneath which rivers flow with all kinds of fruit
for him therein, while he is striken with old age, and he has feeble offspring,
then a whirlwind with fire in it strikes and it gets burnt up?
thus allah makes the signs clear to you, so that you may ponder. "

commentary:

another similitude
in this verse, the qur'an expresses another interesting similitude
to make manifest that how seriously man is in need of righteous deeds
on the judgement day, and how hypocrisy, reproach and injury ruin the
charities and good deeds of man.

this similitude illustrates the view of an old man who possesses a
green, fresh and delightful garden with various trees such as date-palms,
vines, etc. which are watered continuously and do not need to be
irrigated. there are some lazy, careless and weak children around him
whose means of earning life is the very garden. if this garden vanishes
neither the old father nor the feeble children are able to reestablish it.

it happens that suddenly a fiery hurricane blows upon it and burns
it totally dry. how does this old man feel when he has lost the strength
of his youth, and who cannot earn his living from any other ways, while
his children are feable, too ? and, what a deadly regret and grief may
rush over him ?

" would any of you like that there should be for him a garden of date
palms and vines beneath which rivers flow with all kinds of fruit
for him therein, while he is striken with old age, and he has feeble offspring,
then a whirlwind with fire in it strikes and it gets burnt up? ..."

the condition of a person who does a righteous work and then
ruins it by hypocrisy, reproach, and injury is similar to such an old man
who has tolerated many tasks, but when he is in dire need of the fruit of
his efforts, all of them as a whole vanishes and leaves him alone with his
grieves and regrets.

in view of the fact that the source of all misfortunes, especially
the foolish act of reproach, whose benefit is a little but the loss of it is
soon and great, originates from the application of no wisdom, then, at
the end of the verse, allah invites people to contemplation and
pondering. it says:

"...thus allah makes the signs clear to you, so that you may ponder. "