Tafsir of Al-Kahf 18:39-41

{مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ} It is permissible for mā (ما) to be a relative pronoun in the nominative case, acting as the predicate of an omitted subject, the estimation being: "The matter is what Allah wills." Or, it may be conditional in the accusative position, with the apodosis (consequent) omitted, meaning: "Whatever thing Allah wills, it happens." A parallel for the omission of the response is the law (لو) in His saying: {And if there were a Qur’an by which mountains could be moved...} (13:31).

The meaning is: "Why did you not say, upon entering it and looking at what Allah has provided you of it, 'The matter is what Allah wills'?" This is an acknowledgment that it—and every good within it—was attained only by the will and grace of Allah, and that its affair is in His hand: if He wills, He leaves it flourishing, and if He wills, He ruins it.

And you should have said: {لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ} ("There is no power except by Allah"), an admission that the strength you possessed to cultivate it and manage its affairs was only through His aid and support. For no one has strength in their body or in what their hand possesses except by Allah, the Exalted.

It is narrated from ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr that he used to leave a gap in his garden wall during the date season so that whoever wished could enter. Whenever he entered it, he would repeat this verse until he left.

{أَقَلَّ} Whoever reads aqalla (أقل) in the accusative has treated anā (أنا) as a separator. Whoever reads it in the nominative has treated anā as the subject and aqalla as the predicate, with the sentence acting as the second object of tarani (ترني).

{وَوَلَدًا} In His saying {and children} is support for those who interpreted "the number of people" and "children" in His saying {and mightier in number of people} (18:34). The meaning is: "If you see me poorer than you, I expect from the work of Allah that He will reverse the poverty and wealth that is upon me and you; He will provide me, due to my faith, a garden better than your garden, and He will strip you of His blessing due to your disbelief and ruin your orchard."

{حُسْبَانًا} It is a verbal noun like ghufrān (forgiveness) and buṭlān (nullity), meaning "reckoning"—that is, a measure that Allah has ordained and calculated, which is the decree of its destruction. Al-Zajjaj said: "A punishment of reckoning," meaning the reckoning of what your hands have earned. It is also said that ḥusbānan refers to projectiles, the singular being ḥusbānah, meaning thunderbolts.

{صَعِيدًا زَلَقًا} A white, barren land upon which one slips due to its smoothness.

{غَوْرًا} Both ṣa‘īdan and ghawran are described by the verbal noun.

{وَأُحِيطَ بِثَمَرِهِ فَأَصْبَحَ يُقَلِّبُ كَفَّيْهِ عَلَىٰ مَا أَنفَقَ فِيهَا وَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا وَيَقُولُ يَا لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أُشْرِكْ بِرَبِّي أَحَدًا * وَلَمْ تَكُن لَّهُ فِئَةٌ يَنصُرُونَهُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَمَا كَانَ مُنتَصِرًا}