Chapter 18, Verse 33

Commentary:

With this verse begins, in the form of a parable, a description of the conditions respectively of Muslim and Christian nations in the Latter Days. The form and wording of the dialogue unmistakably shows that it is no real conversation between two living persons but is a portraiture, in metaphorical language, of the conditions of these two peoples at a certain time. The dialogue represents the decline and degradation of Muslims at their nadir and the power and prosperity of western Christian nations at their zenith in the Latter Days.

Now parables, like dreams, require to be interpreted, and the present and following several verses having been couched in allegorical language it is difficult to grasp and fully appreciate their full significance and beauty without putting on them a construction which their apparent form does not seem to bear. In the language of dreams a "garden" signifies wife, children, riches and life full of happiness; sometimes it also denotes cantonments and army headquarters. "Grapes" represent abundant provisions which can be stored up and last for a long time; "palm trees" signify exercise of authority over large number of men; "corn" in the case of a monarch denotes expansion of his dominions and in that of other people their "work". A "stream" denotes an eminent man and "fruits" mean fresh sources of honour (Ta‘tirul-Anam).

The parable describes the conditions of two men. One of them had two gardens which metaphorically interpreted means that God had bestowed upon him an abundance of wealth and offspring in two separate periods of his life. This interpretation is supported by v. 35 below where the same person says, I am richer than thou in wealth and stronger in respect of men.

The words, and We surrounded them with date-palms, signify that this man will protect his riches and offspring and dominions with military force.

The expression, and between the two We placed corn-fields, denotes that in between the two gardens there will be ordinary property which will not be so strongly protected.

With this verse begins, in the form of a parable, the conditions of the two peoples—Christians and Muslims, the "two men" representing these two peoples and "two gardens" the two periods of the rise of the Christian nations. The verse denotes that in their chequered history Christian nations would rise to great power twice. The first period preceded the advent of Islam while the second began with the dawn of the 17th century. A.D., when Christian nations of Europe began to make great progress and acquire unprecedented power and prestige which reached its zenith in the nineteenth century.