The People of the Garden

The People of the Garden are the owners of a beautiful orchard who, out of greed, swore to harvest its fruits at dawn in secret so as to leave nothing for the poor. During their sleep, God ravaged the orchard — a lesson on greed and forgetting God.

Some owners inherited a prosperous orchard. Resolved to deprive the poor of their share, they swore to harvest it very early in the morning, discreetly, without saying 'if God wills.'

But while they slept, a divine affliction struck the orchard, reducing it to blackened, barren earth. In the morning they set out, convinced of their good plan, saying they would let no poor person enter.

On discovering the disaster, they first thought they had taken a wrong turn, then understood. The wisest among them reminded them he had warned them. Then they acknowledged: 'Glory to our Lord! We were truly unjust!' And they blamed one another, full of regret.

The People of the Garden teach that greed first deprives the one who practises it, and that the goods of this world are only a trust from God. Forgetting the poor and forgetting God ('if God wills') is to risk losing everything.

إِنَّا بَلَوْنَاهُمْ كَمَا بَلَوْنَا أَصْحَابَ الْجَنَّةِ إِذْ أَقْسَمُوا لَيَصْرِمُنَّهَا مُصْبِحِينَ

Nous les avons éprouvés comme Nous avons éprouvé les propriétaires du verger qui s’étaient juré d’en faire la récolte de bon matin

68:17

قَالُوا سُبْحَانَ رَبِّنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ

Ils dirent : « Gloire à notre Seigneur ! Nous avons vraiment été injustes ! »

68:29