Volume 10 Surah 12 - 15 - Enjoy Islam

Ibrahīm (Abraham) | ONE MESSAGE FOR ALL MANKIND
made to drink putrefied water, gulping it little by little, and yet hardly able to swallow it.
Death will beset him from every side, yet he shall not die. More severe suffering still awaits
him.” (Verses 15-17)
While this takes place in this life, a scene of the hereafter is portrayed whereby an
unusual conversation ensues between arrogant tyrants, their powerless followers
and Satan. The sūrah also portrays the widely different destinies of good and evil
people before providing an analogy of what good and bad words are like. This
portrays the working of the law God has set in nature concerning good and evil in
life. It also serves as a final comment on the story: “Do you not see how God compares a
good word to a good tree? Its roots are firm and its branches reach to the sky. It yields its
fruits at all times by its Lord’s leave. Thus does God set parables for people so that they may
reflect. And an evil word is like a corrupt tree, torn up onto the face of the earth. It cannot
have a stable position. God will strengthen the believers through the true, unshakeable word
in both this life and the life to come; but the wrongdoers God lets go astray. God does
whatever He wills.” (Verses 24-27)
This scene describing words and utterances, good and evil, is derived from the
general atmosphere of the sūrah, and from the history of prophets and those who
deny their messages, as well as the destiny of both groups. The tree of prophethood,
with its prominent figure of Abraham, the Prophet Muĥammad’s ancestor, is
portrayed here as it delivers its great yield every now and then, in the shape of a new
prophet who spreads faith and goodness.
Yet the analogy is far more comprehensive, real and effective than just that. For
the good word of truth is indeed like a great firm tree, yielding its fruits, solid,
unaffected by wind and undisturbed by the storm of evil. It cannot be uprooted by
evil tyranny, even though there may be times when it seems to be exposed to grave
danger. As it stands high, it looks on evil, injustice and tyranny from above, even
though it sometimes seems to the short-sighted that evil squeezes it into a narrow
corner. Its fruits are yielded time after time, because its seeds grow within good
souls, generation after generation.
The same analogy applies in reverse. An evil word of falsehood is like a foul tree
which may spread its branches high and wide, and which may seem to some people
to be greater and stronger than the good tree of truth. Nevertheless, it is weak and
hollow. Its roots are easily pulled out, as though they stretch on the surface of the
earth. One day, it will definitely be uprooted, and then it will have no stable means
of existence.
Neither of these is a parable given by way of consolation or encouragement to
good people. This is the reality of life, even though it may appear at times to come
very slowly. Real goodness does not die or fade away, even though it may be pressed
hard by evil which seems to possess enormous power. Conversely, evil exists only
216