Ar-Ra'd · Madani · ayah 4 of 43

Ar-Ra'd 13:4

وَفِى ٱلْأَرْضِ قِطَعٌ مُّتَجَـٰوِرَٰتٌ وَجَنَّـٰتٌ مِّنْ أَعْنَـٰبٍ وَزَرْعٌ وَنَخِيلٌ صِنْوَانٌ وَغَيْرُ صِنْوَانٍ يُسْقَىٰ بِمَآءٍ وَٰحِدٍ وَنُفَضِّلُ بَعْضَهَا عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ فِى ٱلْأُكُلِ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَـٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ

“And within the land are neighboring plots and gardens of grapevines and crops and palm trees, [growing] several from a root or otherwise,[625] watered with one water; but We make some of them exceed others in [quality of] fruit. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Neighbouring plots drink one water, yet one fruit is sweeter than the next: the difference is chosen, and reason notices who chose it.

A reflection

One sour grape in a sweet bunch

A fruit seller on a Saturday market holds out a bunch of grapes to a small girl. Try one, he says. Sweet. She tries another. Sweet. The third makes her screw up her whole face. Sour, and still a little hard. Same stem, same vine, same sun, same water.

One classical commentator used almost exactly this example. You may take a bunch of grapes, he wrote, and every grape is sweet and ripe except one, which has stayed sour and dry. He added a stranger one. Some roses have one face of the petal deep red and the other nearly black, though the petal is thin and delicate. The sun cannot have reached one side and not the other.

Then comes the decisive word. Yusqā bi-māʾin wāḥid: watered with one water. Wa-nufaḍḍilu: and We make some excel others in fruit. The grammar turns from description to Allah's own 'We'. Another reading, recorded by a commentary, even uses the passive, as if no other agent could be imagined.

This is where the ego has to give way. We love to explain our sweet results. My method. My early mornings. My clever choice of soil. Some of it is true; effort matters and is seen. But two neighbours on the same water, with the same care, can harvest different fruit. The difference is not in the hosepipe. Pride credits the hosepipe.

Why does Allah claim this at all? Is He asking for credit? The ayah answers with its last words: signs for people who reason. One commentary explains that the point is to stop us crediting blind nature. If soil and water did the work alone, there would be no difference. The claim protects our understanding. It adds nothing to Him.

The fruit seller laughs and gives the girl the sweetest-looking one he can find. He does not know why that one is sweet either. Neither do we. Someone does.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.