Surah Al-Kahf: Verse 40 - فعسى ربي أن يؤتين خيرا... - English
Tafsir of Verse 40, Surah Al-Kahf
فَعَسَىٰ رَبِّىٓ أَن يُؤْتِيَنِ خَيْرًا مِّن جَنَّتِكَ وَيُرْسِلَ عَلَيْهَا حُسْبَانًا مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ فَتُصْبِحَ صَعِيدًا زَلَقًا
English Translation
It may be that my Lord will give me [something] better than your garden and will send upon it a calamity from the sky, and it will become a smooth, dusty ground,English Transliteration
FaAAasa rabbee an yutiyani khayran min jannatika wayursila AAalayha husbanan mina alssamai fatusbiha saAAeedan zalaqanTafsir of Verse 40
yet it may be that my Lord will give me better than thy garden, and loose on it a thunderbolt out of heaven, so that in the morning it will be a slope of dust,
"It may be that my Lord will give me something better than thy garden, and that He will send on thy garden thunderbolts (by way of reckoning) from heaven, making it (but) slippery sand!-
The word: حُسبانا - (husbana) in verse 40 has been explained by Qatadah as 'punishment' in an absolute sense, by Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ as 'fire' and by some as 'stoning.' As for what appears after that in the Qur'an: أُحِيطَ بِثَمَرِهِ (And its produce was struck by destruction from all sides - 42), it obviously means that some major calamity hit his gardens, wealth and things of luxury reducing everything to ruins. The Qur'an does not mention any particular calamity explicitly. It appears that, some fire came down from the skies and burnt the whole thing - as it appears in the Tafsir of 'husban' by Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas ؓ who has explained it as 'fire.' And Allah knows best.
