2/265-266 — The counter-comparison: the garden on high ground
"And the case of those who spend their wealth seeking God's good pleasure is like a garden on high ground: heavy rain falls on it and it yields its fruit twofold. And if heavy rain does not fall, a light drizzle suffices."
| 264 | 265 | |
|---|---|---|
| The ground | Thin soil on slippery stone | رَبْوَة — high, fertile ground |
| Rain | Carries the soil away | Doubles the yield |
| Little rain | — | Still suffices — fa-ṭallun |
The same rain gives two different results on two grounds. I record this as my own reading: the verse takes as its subject not the outward conditions but the ground.
طَلّ — a drizzle, a light rain. The work of the detail is this: fertile ground does its work even with little.
Verse 266 adds a third tableau with a question: the garden of dates and vines of a man grown old, whose children are weak, burning in a whirlwind with fire in it. That the loss should come at the moment of greatest need is the centre of the description.