50. THE STORY OF SABA
Allah, Most High, says, (Indeed there was for Saba` (Sheba) a sign in their dwelling place – two gardens on the right hand and on the left (and it was said to them,) “Eat of the provision of your Lord, and be grateful to Him, a fair land and an Oft-Forgiving Lord. But they turned away (from the obedience of Allah), so We sent against them Sail Al-‘Arim (the flood released from the dam), and We converted their two gardens into gardens producing bitter, bad fruit and tamarisks, and a few lote trees. In this way We requited them because they were ungrateful disbelievers. And never do We requite in such a way except those who are ungrateful (disbelievers). And We placed between them and the towns which We had blessed, towns easy to be seen, and We made the stages (of journey) between them easy (saying,) “Travel in them safely both by night and day.” But they said, “Our Lord! Make the stages between our journey longer.” And they wronged themselves, so We made them as tales (in the land), and We dispersed them all, totally. Verily, in this are indeed signs for every steadfast grateful (person).} (Soorah Saba’ 34:15-19)
The scholars of genealogy, including Ibn Ishaq, said that the name of Saba’ was ‘Abd Shams Ibn Yashjub Ibn Ya‘rub Ibn Qahtan. They said that he was the first of the Arabs from Saba’ and so he was called Saba’. He was known as Ar-Ra’ish because he used to give the people from his property. As-Suhaili said, “It was said that he was the first to be crowned king. Some said that he was a Muslim and that he had poetry in which he gave tidings of the coming of the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him); this included the following words:
A Prophet will rule after us a great kingdom,
And he will not permit the unlawful,
And after him, from among them will be kings,
Who will treat the slaves without disparagement,
And after them, kings from among us will rule,
And the kingdom will be divided up among us,
And after Qahtan a Prophet will rule,
Who is pure of brow, the best of mankind,
He will be called Ahmad, how I wish that I,
Could live after he is sent for but a year,
I would support him and give him my help,
Will all my arms and all of my spearmen,
When he appears, be his supporters,
And whoever meets him, convey my salutations to him.
This was related by Ibn Dihyah in his book At-Tanweer Fee Mawlid Al-Basheer An-Nadheer.
And Imam Ahmad narrated on the authority of As-Saba’i ‘Abdur-Rahman Ibn Wa‘lah (that he said,) “I heard ‘Abdullah ibn Al-‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) say, “A man asked the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) about Saba’, was it a man, or a woman or a land? He said, “Nay, it was a man. He fathered ten sons and six of them took up residence in Yemen and the other four took up residence in Ash-Sham. As for the Yemenis, (they were) Madhhij, Kindah, Al-Azd, Al-Ash‘ariyyoon, Anmar and Himyar. As for the Shamites, (they were) Lakhm, Judham, ‘Amilah and Ghassan.”
What is meant is that Saba’ includes all of these tribes. Among them were At-Tababi‘ah in Yemen (the singular is Tubba‘) and their kings had crowns that they wore at the time of delivering judgments, just as the Kisras of Persia used to do. The Arabs used to call every king who ruled Yemen, including Ash-Shihr and Hadramawt, “Tubba‘”, just as they referred to every ruler of Ash-Sham and Al-Jazeerah as “Qaisar” (Ceasar), while every ruler of Persia was known as Kisra (Kisra). Every ruler of Egypt was known as “Fir‘awn” (Pharaoh) and every ruler of Abyssinia was known as “An-Najashi” (the Negus) and every ruler of India was known as “Batlaimoos” (Ptolemy). Among the rulers of Himyar, in the land of Yemen was Bilqees, whose story with that of Sulaiman (Peace be upon him) we have already told. They enjoyed great good fortune and abundant provisions and plentiful fruits and crops. In addition to this, they were rightly guided and followed the path of righteousness. But when they repaid Allah’s Blessing with disbelief, their land became uncultivable.
Muhammad Ibn Ishaq narrated on the authority of Wahb Ibn Munabbih that Allah sent thirteen Prophets to them. As-Suddi claimed that he sent twelve thousand Prophets to them. And Allah knows better. What is meant is that they turned away from guidance in favor of error and prostrated before the sun, instead of Allah – and that was during the reign of Bilqees and before it also – and this continued until Allah sent Sail Al-‘Arim against them, as He, Most High, says, {But they turned away (from the obedience of Allah), so We sent against them Sail Al-‘Arim (the flood released from the dam), and We converted their two gardens into gardens producing bitter, bad fruit and tamarisks and a few lote trees. In this way We requited them because they were ungrateful disbelievers. And never do We requite in such a way except those who are ungrateful (disbelievers)} (Soorah Saba’ 34:16,17)
More than one of the earlier and the later scholars from among the scholars of tafseer and others said that the reason for the building of the dam of Ma‘rib was because the waters used to run between two mountains and so in the far distant past, they built a very strong dam between the two mountains, so that the water rose and the dam held it back to the tops of the mountains. Then they planted orchards and trees and got the best fruits that could ever be harvested, plentiful and beautiful and they grew bountiful crops. It was said that the first person to build the dam was Saba’ Ibn Ya‘rub and that seventy rivers ran into it, while it had thirty openings from which the water emerged (to irrigate the land). He died when the construction of the dam was not yet finished and so it was completed after him by Himyar. It was many farsakhs wide and they enjoyed great wealth and lived lives of enviable luxury, to such a degree that, according to Qatadah and others, a woman would walk with a large basket on her head and it would be filled with fruits that fell into it, due to their ripeness and their profusion. They also said that there were no fleas or harmful creatures in their lands, due to the healthy climate and the good health they enjoyed, as He, Most High, says, {Indeed there was for Saba’ a sign in their dwelling place – two gardens on the right hand and on the left (and it was said to them,) “Eat of the provision of your Lord, and be grateful to Him, a fair land and an Oft-Forgiving Lord} (Soorah Saba’ 34:15) and as He, Most High, says, {And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed, “If you give thanks (by accepting faith and worshipping none but Allah), I will give you more (of My Blessings), but if you are thankless (i.e. disbelievers), verily! My Punishment is indeed severe.”} (Soorah Ibraheem 14:7). So they worshipped (false) deities besides Allah and disregarded His Blessings and asked Allah to make the stages between their journey longer and to make their journeys longer and more difficult and tiresome. And they asked that He replace goodness with evil, just as the Children of Isra’eel asked for manna and quails to be replaced with herbs, cucumbers, foom (wheat or garlic), lentils and onions. So they were deprived of this great Blessing and the widespread Benevolence by the destruction of the land and the scattering of the slaves throughout the lands, as He, Most High, says, {But they turned away (from the obedience of Allah), so We sent against them Sail Al-‘Arim.} (Soorah Saba’ 34:16)
More than one of the scholars said that Allah sent rats to the foundations of the dam, i.e. desert rats. It was also said that they were moles. When they realized this, they brought cats to counter the rats, but this did not benefit them at all once the Divine Decree had come to pass. Their vigilance was to no avail. No! There is no refuge! When the rats took hold of the foundations, the dam collapsed and the water gushed forth and rushed through the bottom of the valley and destroyed everything in their path – buildings, trees, etc. As the water drained from the trees that were on the mountains, to the right and the left, those trees dried up and were destroyed. Those beautiful, fruit-bearing trees were replaced with something altogether different, as Allah says, {and We converted their two gardens into gardens producing bitter, bad fruit, and tamarisks.} (Soorah Saba’ 34:16)
‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him), Mujahid and others said that it was the arak tree, whose fruit is known as bareer and tamarisk, which is at-tarfa’. It was also said that it resembles it and that its dry wood has no fruit. {and some few lote trees} (Soorah Saba’ 34:16). This was because it bore lotus fruit and so there were only a few of them, although it has many thorns and its fruit is, as it is said in the parable, “The meat of a lean camel is on the top of a high mountain and there is no easy path to it and (if you could reach it,) there is little meat to be had from it.” This is why Allah, Most High, says, {Like this We requited them because they were ungrateful disbelievers. And never do We requite in such a way except those who are ungrateful (disbelievers).} (Soorah Saba’ 34:17). That is, We only inflict this severe punishment on those who disbelieve in Us, believe Our Messengers, disobey Our Commandments and violate Our Prohibitions. And He, Most High, says, {So We made them as tales (in the land), and We dispersed them all, totally} (Soorah Saba’ 34:19). That is, when their wealth was destroyed and their land was ruined, they had to depart from it and so they were widely dispersed throughout the lands.
By Ibn Katheer
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