Man of Two Gardens

The idea of wanting your children to be successful is common in all religions and cultures. We define that success in specific ways e.g. having a stable career, a personal house, assets etc. Families often compete with each other and compare their children all the time. Success is not measured with your own personal record but it is constantly being compared with others success. This is even common in siblings.

This passage is about two muslim men who were neighbours, and one of them had plenty of assets and Allah described them in detail. Allah did not describe the assets of the other person because he didn't have much to be considered worth mentioning. Allah records the conversation that goes on between these two. The first man says that he has gardens of grapevines and it's fortified with palm trees for protection. In between the two of them, he also had farmland. Farming is very stressful because one has to work all the year and he only gets his return at the time of harvest(if it is not damaged by weather, pests, flooding etc). Then Allah says nothing was missing in his farm, and it produced all kinds of plants. So he also had the best produce. He didn't even need irrigation because a river naturally flowed between his gardens.

Allah emphasises that He gave him all of that but he takes credit for his success. The wealthy man said to him while they were having a regular conversation: I have more wealth than you and I also have a lot of manpower. We have a habit of rubbing our wealth in each other's faces just to show our status, and we casually slip it in. We even compete at weddings. This sets unrealistic and unbeatable standards for those who are not as blessed.

He was mean towards his neighbour in this conversation but Allah says that he was unjust to himself. So, this shows that he was only harming his own self. Then he goes back to his garden, feeling proud, and he thinks that it will not perish ever. He does not even want to think that there is an end to it and there is an afterlife. But even if he thinks about an afterlife, he thinks his wealth is a measure of his success and Allah's pleasure. So he believes Allah will give him even more in akhirah. BUT Allah clearly says that wealth is not a measure of Allah's happiness, rather it is a test from Allah.

At this point, the 2nd person talked to him because he felt this person was becoming weak in faith. He did not respond to him when the 1st man insulted him, but rather he decided to advise him when things were going out of hand. So when they were having another conversation, he slipped the naseeha in. He tries to remind him that we were created from dust and a sperm drop and Allah proportioned us! He goes on to say that I DO NOT ASSOCIATE ANYONE WITH MY LORD. Basically he was doing naseeha to him but he didn't target him directly. When you entered the garden, why didn't you say maa shah Allah that it is from the will of Allah and there is no power other than Allah. He gives to whoever he wills. This is not something we say verbally but we should have the conviction in our heart that everything is from Allah. It may be that Allah gives me something better or the garden is destroyed or the river sinks in, so he was trying to remind him that everything is temporary.

His entire farm was surrounded by the punishment of Allah and he was just left standing there, helpless. The sticks/palm trees he used to protect his garden actually collapsed on the garden, so the garden was destroyed because of wind. He regrets his shirk and reliance on himself and then turns back to Allah. We should turn to Allah before we are given a hard lesson like this man was given.