Surah Saba' ([The People of] Saba) 34 : 16

Overview (Verses 15 - 19)

No Gratitude for God’s Favours

David and his family were full of gratitude to God for all His blessings and used such favours for good purpose. The people of Sheba, however, are to be contrasted with such role models. In Sūrah 27, The Ants, we have a report of what took place between their queen and Solomon. Here, the story gives an account of what happened to them after Solomon, which suggests that the events included here date back to a period after the queen’s exchanges with Solomon. What makes this more likely is that the story here speaks of Sheba’s people becoming ungrateful for God’s blessings, which were then withdrawn and the people scattered. Under the queen mentioned in Sūrah 27, they enjoyed a plentiful period and were very powerful. The first report received by Solomon about them was from a hoopoe who told him: “I found there a woman ruling over them; and she has been given of all good things, and hers is a magnificent throne. I found her and her people prostrating themselves to the sun instead of God; and Satan has made their deeds seem goodly to them, thus turning them away from the path [of God!, so that they cannot find the right way.” (27: 23-24)

This was subsequently followed by the queen’s submission to God, as she embraced the divine faith. The story here, then, is certainly of a subsequent period. It tells of what happened to them after they turned away from God and refused to thank Him for His favours.

The story opens with a description of the great blessings they enjoyed and the provisions they were granted, as well as the requirement that they should demonstrate their gratitude as they could: “There was a sign for the people of Sheba in their dwelling place: two gardens, one to the right and one to the left: ‘Eat of what your Lord has provided for you, and give thanks to Him: a land most goodly and a Lord Much- Forgiving.’“ (Verse 15)

Sheba is the name of a community living in southern Yemen, in a fertile land some of which remains so today. They were highly civilized and were able to make good use of their water resources, as they were blessed with much rainfall, occupying territory close to the sea in the south and east. They were thus able to build a natural dam between two mountains, erecting a great wall down the valley, with controlled openings. In this way they were able to retain water in great quantities which they used as they needed. This great darn was known as the Ma’rib Dam.

The gardens to the right and left symbolize the splendid fertility of their land which gave them beauty and affluence. Therefore, they were signs reminding them of God who gives every good thing. They were commanded to make full use of what was granted to them and to thank the Giver: “Eat of what your Lord has provided for you, and give thanks to Him.” (Verse 15) They were also reminded of the nature of their blessings: the productive land and the forgiveness of their sins: “a land most goodly and a Lord Much-Forgiving.” (Verse 15) When such priceless blessings are given in plenty, why were they unwilling to give thanks? “But they paid no heed, and so We let loose upon them a raging torrent and replaced their two gardens with others yielding bitter fruit, tamarisks, and a few lore trees.” (Verse 16)

When they failed to show their gratitude to God and use what God favoured them with in a goodly and beneficial way, He took away their source of affluence and let loose raging, stone-carrying torrents which destroyed their dam and its water flooded the whole area. With the dam no longer functioning, the land dried up. Instead of beautiful gardens they now had only a desert in which only a few wild trees were to grow, bearing no good fruit. The verse says that their gardens were “replaced ...with others yielding bitter fruit, tamarisks, and a few lote trees.” (Verse 16) This was the best that their land could subsequently produce and even then it was only in small quantities. “Thus We requited them for their ingratitude: would We thus requite any but the totally ungrateful.” (Verse 17) Until then they had remained in their villages and homes. God stinted their provisions and replaced their riches with austerity, but He had not yet scattered them over a wider area. They had easy contacts with the cities blessed by God: Makkah and Jerusalem. To the north of Sheba, Yemen was well inhabited and its land routes to other areas were safe and comfortable: “We had placed between them and the cities which We had blessed towns within sight of one another so that they could travel in measured stages: ‘Travel through them by night and day in safety.” (Verse 18) It is reported that a traveller would leave one township in the morning and arrive at the next before dark. This meant that journey times were short, making travel easy, safe and comfortable.

Yet Sheba’s people paid no heed to the first warning. Nor did the change in their circumstances make them turn to God and appeal to Him to give back their comfortable lives. On the contrary, their prayer betrayed stupidity and ignorance: “But they said: ‘Our Lord! Make our journeys longer.” They wanted long distance travel, which is undertaken only infrequently. In so doing, they demonstrated nothing but arrogance: They sinned against their souls.” Their prayer was answered, but only as such a prayer should be answered: “So We caused them to become a tale, and scattered them throughout the land.” (Verse 19) They became like refugees scattered throughout Arabia. They also became the subject of discussions in others’ gatherings. In other words, they were no longer a recognized community, but a tale people told. “Surely, there are signs in all this for anyone who is patient in adversity, deeply grateful.” (Verse 19) We note that patience and steadfastness are mentioned alongside thanksgiving in times of plenty. The history of Sheba gives signs on both counts.

This is one way of understanding the last two verses. However, they may also be understood in a different way, which would then render the first statement as: “We had placed between them and the cities which We had blessed towns that have dominance.” As these places had power and dominance, the people of Sheba became poor, living like desert dwellers, and having to travel time after time to find pasture and water. They could not withstand the test that this entailed. Therefore, they prayed to God, and in this case their supplication would be rendered as: ‘Our Lord! Lengthen the time between our journeys,’ or make them less frequent, as travel has become too tiring for us. They did not couple this prayer with turning to God with repentance and seeking His forgiveness, so that He would grant them what they prayed for. Since they behaved arrogantly when they had God’s blessings, and did not persevere when they faced adversity, God punished them by scattering them and so they disappeared, featuring only in people’s tales. This makes the comment at the end of these verses fitting for their lack of gratitude for God’s favour and lack of patience in adversity: “Surely, there are signs in all this for anyone who is patient in adversity, deeply grateful.” (Verse 19) I feel this understanding of the verses to be also acceptable. God, however, knows His own purpose best.