(Surah Araf 7...

(Surah Araf 7:58) It is narrated by Ali Ibne Ibrahim that ‘the good land’ is a metaphor for the Imams, whose knowledge is effortlessly gained from the Almighty Allah and ‘inferior land’ denotes their enemies, whose knowledge is dirty and invalid and if a little knowledge of theirs reaches the people that also does not benefit. Shaykh Tabarsi has narrated from Ibne Abbas that Allah has given these as similes of a believer and a disbeliever.

Though all land is of one kind, some are pure as they become soft due to rain and good vegetation grows from them and production is also more from them and some are salty and rocky on which nothing grows and if something grows, it carries no benefit. In the same way the heart is made of flesh and blood, but some hearts become soft due to good advice and some are hard, which do not accept any advice.

Surely Allah causes the grain and the stone to germinate, He brings forth the living from the dead and He is the bringer froth of the dead from the living, that is Allah, how are you then turned away. (Surah Anam 6:96) It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (a.s.) that ‘grain’ refers to the believer whom Allah takes as His friend and ‘stone’ refers to the unbeliever who is far from everything.

According to another tradition the germinating of seeds refers to the manifestation of the knowledge of the Holy Imams and ‘stone’ denotes those from whom knowledge is away. According another tradition ‘grain’ refers to the original clay (Teenat) of the believer, in whom His love has been created and ‘stone’ refers to the Teenat of an unbeliever.