أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ ٱللَّهُ مَثَلًا كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ · تُؤْتِىٓ أُكُلَهَا كُلَّ حِينٍۭ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا ۗ وَيَضْرِبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْأَمْثَالَ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ
Alam tara kayfa ḍaraba'llāhu mathalan kalimatan ṭayyibatan ka-shajaratin ṭayyibatin aṣluhā thābitun wa farʿuhā fi's-samāʾ · Tuʾtī ukulahā kulla ḥīnin bi-idhni rabbihā · Wa yaḍribu'llāhu'l-amthāla li'n-nāsi laʿallahum yatadhakkarūn
"Have you not seen how God has struck a parable: a good word is like a good tree — its root firm, its branch in the sky? · It gives its fruit at every season by its Lord's leave. God strikes these parables for people that they may take heed."
The concrete sense of the root ض-ر-ب is to strike; and in Arabic the idiom ḍaraba mathalan is used for "to give an example". The construction of this idiom was tabulated in al-Zukhruf — there the root was used within the sūra for three different tasks. I rely on that treatment.
A note on the language: the lexicographers explain the verb "to strike" in the idiom by the picture of a stamp being struck onto material (the striking of a coin). That is, a parable is the impressing of an idea upon the mind.
The two parables are set against one another across three verses, and their elements match one for one. This is the most tightly built section of the sūra:
| Element | The good word / good tree (24-25) | The evil word / evil tree (26) |
|---|---|---|
| The word | Kalimatan ṭayyiba | Kalimatin khabītha |
| The tree | Ka-shajaratin ṭayyiba | Ka-shajaratin khabītha |
| Root | Aṣluhā thābit — its root firm | Ijtuththat min fawqi'l-arḍ — torn up from the ground |
| What is above | Farʿuhā fi's-samāʾ — its branch in the sky | Not stated — it has no above |
| Fruit | Tuʾtī ukulahā kulla ḥīn — fruit at every season | Not stated — it has no fruit |
| Leave | Bi-idhni rabbihā | Not stated |
| Outcome | (implicitly: it stands) | Mā lahā min qarār — it has no place to stand |
| Number of elements | Four (root, branch, fruit, leave) | Two (being uprooted, having no standing) |
What the table shows is not a balance but a disproportion, and I record this as my own reading, its ground being the number of elements: the good tree is described in four sentences, the evil tree in two. And the two sentences that are missing are precisely those belonging to what is above and to fruit.
That is, the description of the evil tree is the description of the good tree with things taken away. The opposition is built not by adding a negative attribute but by removing attributes.
The root أ-ص-ل: the bottom of a thing, its foundation, the place it comes out of. Aṣl — the part of a tree that holds to the soil; and from there, lineage, foundation, source.
What must be recorded is that this root returns in the twenty-seventh verse of the sūra: yuthabbitu'llāhu'lladhīna āmanū bi'l-qawli'th-thābit. The same root, three verses apart, once for the root of a tree and once for the word of a human being.
I record this as a weave within the sūra, and it can be verified: the parable recounts a tree, and the verse that comes immediately after ties the parable to the human being and does so by using the same root.
The root ف-ر-ع: the upper part of a thing, what is above. Farʿ — a branch; and from there the sense of "what comes out of the root" (the distinction between uṣūl and furūʿ in jurisprudence comes from this).
That the two words come together must be recorded: aṣl and farʿ. These two words form a pair in Arabic: root and branch, foundation and derivative. The verse builds the parable with exactly this pair.
Fi's-samāʾ — "in the sky". The dictionary sense of the word is "that which is above" (recorded in al-Nabaʾ and al-Mulk). The sky need not be intended here; the force of the expression is "reaching upward".
Ukul from the root أ-ك-ل: what is eaten, the produce a tree gives. (From the same root comes akl — the act of eating.)
| Reading | How long ḥīn is | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | An indefinite span | Whenever its time comes, every season |
| 2 | Six months | Fruit twice a year |
| 3 | Two months / other definite spans | Various figures are transmitted in the sources |
| 4 | Without interruption — every moment | The tree's fruit is never cut off |
The lexical situation of the word is this, and it must be recorded: ḥīn in Arabic is a piece of time of undetermined extent. The lexicographers agree that the word itself conveys no fixed span; those who give a figure derive it from the context of the verse or from reports, not from the word itself. I record this distinction and make no choice among the readings that give figures.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the indefiniteness of the word: the work of the parable is not to give a calendar. What is said is that the fruit is not cut off — and the word kulla (every) already secures this, whatever the span may be.
| Verse | What is made to depend on a leave |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bringing out — from darkness into light |
| 23 | Abiding — in the garden |
| 25 | Giving fruit — the tree's produce |
The three occurrences are in three different sections of the sūra, and all three say the same thing: the work is done, but the outcome of the work does not belong to the one who does it.
I record this as my own reading, its ground being the arrangement of the three occurrences: the tree strikes root, reaches up, gives fruit — and the verse says that the fruit comes by a leave. The soundness of the root does not guarantee the fruit; it is counted the condition of the fruit but not its cause.
The root ذ-ك-ر and tadhakkur have been treated in many places in the series. The pattern must be recorded: the tafaʿʿul form conveys effort — "to try to remember, to think a thing over."
That is, the aim of the parable is set down not as giving information but as reminding. This overlaps with the command in the fifth verse of the sūra: wa dhakkirhum bi-ayyāmi'llāh. The same root, once as a command given to a messenger, once as the ground of a parable.