As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 62 of 182

As-Saffat 37:62

أَذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ نُّزُلًا أَمْ شَجَرَةُ ٱلزَّقُّومِ

“Is that [i.e., Paradise] a better accommodation or the tree of zaqqūm?”

Saheeh International

Essence

After the Garden's table, the Quran sets down the other one and asks a question with one possible answer: which has the better yield?

A reflection

Which crop yields better?

A fruit grower walks her two orchards at harvest. One was pruned and fed all year, and the branches bend with apples. The other she let go, and it is choked with brambles. She does not need a spreadsheet to compare them. The yield speaks for itself.

The word nuzul has a root sense that fits that walk exactly. Several commentaries explain that nuzul first meant the surplus or yield of food. The Arabs said of a nourishing dish that it had much nuzul: it went far, it fed people well. From there the word was borrowed for the yield of anything, its net result.

Read that way, the ayah asks a question about returns. The known provision of the Garden, described at length a few ayat earlier (37:41-49), and the tree of Zaqqum. Which of these has the better yield? The commentaries spell out the answer they expected every listener to give. The yield of the provision is pleasure and joy. The yield of Zaqqum is pain and grief. There is no proportion between them.

We live in an economy of returns. We compare savings rates, salaries, the cost of a course against what it will earn. We are good at asking what an investment will yield in five years.

We are often worse at asking it about a habit, a friendship or a way of life. Yet those are investments too, and they have yields. The ayah asks us to apply the same hard question to the deepest choice of all. Put the two crops side by side, look at the harvest honestly, and choose which orchard to tend.

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.