Tafsir of Al-Qalam 68:17

"Indeed, We have tested them, as..."

"Indeed, We have tested them": That is, We afflicted the people of Mecca with a tribulation, which was the famine caused by the supplication of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), when he said: "O Allah, tighten Your grip upon Mudar and make them years like the years of Joseph."

"As We tested": That is, just as We tested; the kaf (preposition) is in the position of an accusative of a reconstructed verbal noun, and ma is the infinitive particle. It is also said that it means "like that which," meaning: like the trial which We inflicted upon...

"The owners of the garden": Those who were well-known for its bounty. It was in the land of Yemen, near them, close to San’a, belonging to a man who used to fulfill the right of Allah, the Exalted, from it. When he died, it passed to his sons, and they withheld its bounty from the people and were stingy with the right of Allah, the Exalted, from it, so that which Allah, the Exalted, has mentioned occurred.

According to what Ibn al-Mundhir and others recorded from Ibn Jarir, it was in a land in Yemen called Suran, located six miles from San’a. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Ibn Abbas that they were people from Abyssinia, and their father had a garden from which he used to feed the needy. When he died, his sons said, "Our father was truly foolish to feed the needy," so they swore an oath not to feed any needy person from it.

‘Abd ibn Humayd recorded from Qatadah that he said it belonged to an old man of the Children of Israel who would keep the sustenance for his year and give the surplus in charity. His sons would forbid him from giving charity, and when he died, they swore to withhold it from the needy. In another narration, it was said it belonged to a righteous man two farsakhs from San’a, and he used to leave for the needy what the sickle missed, what was at the bottom of the grain heaps, what the hand missed during the grape harvest, and what remained on the mat beneath the date palm tree once it was harvested. A significant amount would thus gather for them. When he died, his sons said, "If we do as our father did, our affairs will become constrained, and we are people with families." So, they swore to harvest it at the time of morning, secretly from the needy, as the Almighty said:

"When they swore": This is connected to "We have tested them."

"To harvest it": That is, to cut its fruits after they had ripened.

"In the morning": Entering into the morning. This is a narration of their oath, not their direct utterance, otherwise it would have been said "to harvest it" (with the nun of the first person plural); both are permissible in such a context.