English Translation of Al-Quran
[34].Surah Saba [Sheba]
Ayat 16. But they turned away (from the obedience of Allah), so Allah sent against them Sail Al Arim (flood released from the dam), and Allah converted their two gardens into gardens producing bitter bad fruit, and tamarisks, and some few Lote trees.
Ayat 17. Like this Allah requited them because they were ungrateful disbelievers. And never do Allah requit in such a way except those who are ungrateful, (disbelievers).
Tafseer of Surah Saba’ (Sheba) Ayat 16 and 17. But they turned away (from Allah., and Allah sent against them the Flood (released) from the Dams, and We converted their two gardens (rows) into “gardens” producing bitter fruit, and tamarisks, and some few (stunted) Lote-trees. Into that happy Garden of Eden in Arabia Felix (Araby the Blest) came the insidious snake of Unfaith and Wrongdoing. Perhaps the people became arrogant of their prosperity, or of their science, or of their skill in irrigation engineering, in respect of the wonderful works of the Dam which their ancestors had constructed. Perhaps they got broken up into rich and poor, privileged and unprivileged, high caste and low-caste, disregarding the gifts and closing the opportunities given by Allah to all His creatures. Perhaps they broke the laws of the very Nature which fed and sustained them. The Nemesis came. It may have come suddenly, or it may have come slowly. The pent-up waters of the eastern side of the Yemen highlands were collected in a high lake confined by the Dam of Marib. A mighty flood came: the dam burst: and it has never been repaired since. This was a spectacular crisis: it may have been preceded and followed by slow desiccation of the country. “‘Arim’ ‘ (= Dams or Embankments) may have been a proper noun, or may simply mean the great earthworks lined with stone, which formed the Marib dam, of which traces still exist. The French traveler TJ. Arnaud saw the town and ruins of the Dam of Marib in 1843, and described its gigantic works and its inscriptions: See Journal Asiatique for January 1874: the account is in French. For a secondary account in English, see W.B. Harris, Journey Through Yemen, Edinburgh, 1893. The dam as measured by Arnaud was two miles long and 120 ft. high. The date of its destruction was somewhere about 120 A.C., though some authorities put it much later. The flourishing “Garden of Arabia” was converted into a waste. The luscious fruit trees became wild, or gave place to wild plants with bitter fruit. The feathery leaved tamarisk, which is only good for twigs and wattle-work, replaced the fragrant plants and flowers. Wild and stunted kinds of thorny bushes, like the wild Lote tree, which were good for neither fruit nor shade, grew in place of the pomegranates, the date palms, and the grapevines. The lote tree belongs to the family Rhamnaceae, Zizyphus Spina Christi of which {it is supposed) Christ’s crown of thorns was made, allied to the Zizyphus Jujuba, or bertree of India. Wild, it is shrubby, thorny and useless. In cultivation it bears good fruit, and some shade, and can be thorn-less, thus becoming a symbol of heavenly bliss: 56:28. 17. That was the Requital We gave them because they ungratefully rejected Faith: and never do Allah give (such) requital except to such as are ungrateful rejecters. Kufr intensive form: “those who deliberately and continuously reject Allah and are ungrateful for His Mercies, as shown by their constant wrongdoing.
English Translation of Hadith
Hazrat Salamah bin Al-Akwa` (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah ﷺ [SAWW](PBUH) said, “Man continues to display haughtiness and arrogance until he is recorded among the arrogant and will be therefore afflicted with what afflicts them.”
[At-Tirmidhi Hadith # 2000].
Lesson: as mentioned above in Surah Saba Ayat 17. “Allah requited them because they were ungrateful disbelievers” To adopt the habits and manners of good people is deemed to be desirable. But, on the contrary, to take to the bad ways of bad people is considered undesirable. A man will ultimately be counted among those people whom he will take as a model to emulate, because he is gradually fitted into their framework and assimilates all of their qualities. Quite naturally then retribution will be administered to him accordingly.
