Surah Al-Kahf (18) — Ayah 42

(Ayah 42){ وَ اُحِيْطَ بِثَمَرِهٖ …:} The literal meaning is that its fruit was encompassed, that is, all was destroyed. Thus, it happened exactly as the believer had said: at night, by Allah’s command, some calamity such as a stormy rain, a severe wave of cold, or a fire destroyed his entire garden, the grape clusters fell along with their trellises, and when morning came, nothing was left there. Allah Almighty has drawn a remarkable picture of this disbeliever, because when a sudden shock occurs, a person is initially stunned, then after regaining composure, he speaks. This polytheist too, upon seeing the state of his garden, began to turn his hands over. Two meanings can be taken from this: one is that he began to rub one hand over the other, and the other is that, out of regret and sorrow, he began to turn them over separately, lamenting, “Alas! How much money I had spent on this, not only did I lose the profit, but even the principal is gone.” Now he remembered that the believer brother’s words were true and began to say, “If only I had not associated anyone with my Lord, had not followed my own ego out of pride and arrogance, but had accepted my brother’s words and considered all my grandeur and glory as a gift from Allah alone.”